From Vongola to leaf
by Azurebubble
Summary: She was confused, she didn't know where she was, but one thing is for sure. She's no longer in her world and universe without her family or anyone else. Not to mention she had been deaged and shrunk. Now as a child she would have to grow up in Konoha and hope that Tsuna and the others would find a way to take her home. AN:(Discontinued Somewhat)
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:I don't own KHR or Naruto **

**Disappearance and ****Reappearance**

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The sound of gunshots filled the air as the enemy famiglia kept on firing everywhere. Today was the Vongola Decimo's birthday, and a party which only had the Vongola and close friends invited since, the Decimo didn't want to hold a big part today. Everything had been going along smoothly however, right near the end of the party gunshots had started being heard and the enemy famiglia had started to attack. Everyone had scattered, of course after defeating those that had crashed the party directly. The attack wasn't a small scale one, and every corner of the Vongola mansion was being attacked.

"Fuck! Fuck! God damn it!" A young brown haired woman, of barely twenty yelled as she dodged bullets left and right, barely dodging some. "Of all times to show up! Damn it Tsuna! Where the hell are you!" Taking out one of her boxes, that Tsuna had given her as a gift when she had finally officially joined the Vongola, she summoned her lightning flames into her ring, and the box opened. It revealed two silver semi-automatic handguns. She then started to fire back as she simultaneously continuing to dodge. As she dodged and fired back she pushed onwards, never dropping her guard as enemies continued to fire.

"VOOOI! A loud voice yelled as a long silver haired man appeared slicing enemies with his hand sword. "What the hell do you think you're doing here Yume!?" The man yelled angrily as he continued to slice the rest of the enemies in the area that were left.

"What the fuck do you think I'm doing?! I'm killing these god damn fuckers as best as I can Squalo!" The now named young woman yelled at the silver haired man. "Ah, Crud!" She growled as more enemies appeared

"Well you're doing a piss poor job of it trash!"

Glaring she gritted her teeth as she down five of the oncoming enemies. and ran ahead. Not one to be left behind Squalo followed cutting down enemies as they approached. "I'm trying you crazy shark! It's not exactly easy when you're not the most skilled or experienced in a fight!" She yelled angrily as she took down another five leaving only scorched corpses. Her box weapons were special, they were modeled after the idea of Xanxus' own guns but instead of using bullets and flames hers allowed her to use her own flames in concentrated amounts. This benefited her as she didn't have to reload all the time, the only downside was that it drained on her flames and if she shot more than she could handle she knocked out for at least a week.

"Excuses! At your age trash, I already had more than a thousand kills and was a skilled assassin! He yelled as he finished off the last of the oncoming enemies.

"Tch. Well excuse me if we all can't be talented like you." She muttered the last part under her breath as she started moving on ahead again "Oi. Squalo have you seen Tsuna?" She asked as the man was muttering loudly as they moved on ahead.

"Che! That piece of scum was near the entrance of the mansion last I saw him."

Nodding, she headed that way, and faintly noted that Squalo wasn't following her. Not that it was surprising, he wouldn't go and help directly.

"VOOI! Scum tell that piece of trash we aren't helping because we want to! Only boss gets to kill Tsuna no one else got it!" He yelled from the back and turning her head she yelled back. "As if Xanxus will ever be boss!" Smiling slightly, she she then yelled. "But I'll pass on the message and thank you!"

As she neared the entrance, the sound of a battle increased once again and she tensed. Her training with Reborn and Lal Mirch had made her learn to instinctively become cautious whenever there was the sound of a fight. She shivered slightly at the thought of there trainings. 'Sadistic, spartan tutors.' She thought as she picked up her pace.

Once she neared the area of where Tsuna should be she saw Tsuna in Hyper Dying Will Mode finish off the enemy famiglia boss.

She frowned a bit knowing Tsuna didn't like doing this but it was unavoidable, he was head of the family after all. She snorted slightly, he didn't like that everyone had to do this and neither did she, but she made this decision. In order to protect her family and friends she would do what she had to. The same reason Tsuna finally stopped protesting about being boss.

Smiling slightly she saw that Gokudera, and Yamamoto who had been fighting off the other family members that would have interfered in the fight, ran towards Tsuna. She couldn't hear what they were saying but it must have been something serious. She then started moving towards them and halfways there she noticed movement out of the corner of her eyes.

A man. part of the enemy famiglia. had something small in his hands and seemed to be saying. "Damn you Vongola Decimo! But you will pay, boss thought this might happen so he had this made and gave me orders. Hahahah this shall be a bleak victory once you're gone!" He then through the object and without a second thought she sprinted towards Tsuna.

* * *

"Tsuna! Get out of the way!" She yelled as she shoved Tsuna aside and the object hit the back of her shoulder before a blinding bright light consumed her.

Tsuna's eyes widened in shock and horror! "Yume!" Gokudera had been quick in his actions and before the man could escape knocked him out unconscious. "Jyuudaime, don't worry we'll get him to talk once we get the chance!" He exclaimed, hoping that would lessen Tsuna's worry, horror, and fear.

"Yume….no Yume!" Tsuna choked out as he realized his friend that was like a sister to him was gone. Right before his eyes, protecting him. He had a painful feeling in his gut.

* * *

Upon waking Yume felt as if she taken a whole three weeks worth of Lal's training sessions in one day. 'Ugh! Everything hurts! Why?!' She whined mentally as she scanned her surroundings despite the pain and realized the unfamiliar room. It was somewhat rundown, with stains on the faded, yellow walls. These weren't the infirmary rooms used to heal the family members after a fight. Try explaining to the hospital and authorities for all those hospital visits if ever questioned. Yeah, it would not go well.

The appearance of her surroundings startled her and snapped her out of her mental whining. 'I can manage to whine and think about how everything hurts later. First off, I need to figure out where I am!" She thought as she looked around the room. ignoring the pain. and noticed that everything bigger than they should have. As she began to ponder on that fact she noticed her body felt weird and looked down and gasped as she finally realized why everything seemed bigger. 'What the!? My hands! My body! It's shrunk! What's going on here!?" She started to panic but forced herself to calm down. Reborn's words going through her mind.

_Remember Bakayume, no matter what situation you're in you have to learn to stay calm and analyze everything. _

'Right. Right. Stay calm. Don't freak out. Don't panic.' As she was lost in her thoughts trying to calm down she failed to notice that the closed door had opened and a woman had stepped in.

Clearing her throat the woman stepped towards Yume. At the noise Yume startled and was brought out of her thoughts as she looked at the woman in surprise. ' O Dio Mio! She's huge and so big!' Yume thought as she started straight up at the woman in front of her.

**M:Hey Auzrebubble here. I hope you guys enjoyed the beginning of this fanfic. It's my first time writing this type of fan fiction officially and not just jotting it down on paper and never finish writing it because writing is too troublesome. I've had this idea of this type of fan fiction but never saw one on here for this crossover so I hope I didn't do a poor job at it. So I hope it was good and interesting. ^-^ **


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer- I don't own Naruto or Katekyo Hitman Reborn.**

The Hidden Village

It had already been a year since Yume arrived here at the orphanage in the Hidden leaf Village. The head of the orphanage, had explained to her how she got there. At least, as to how she arrived at the orphanage. She had said that a man, in the middle of the night had brought her, and that she had simply been a mess, with injuries here and there. Her old clothes were torn, and ripped beyond repair, the only things that were undamaged were her boxes and rings.

**-Flashback-**

The huge woman stood over her, looking at her with a mixture of pity and resent. Pity because she could only assume that the little girl had been abandoned and anger because she now had one more mouth to feed and they didn't have much money to pay for everything. They had enough to make sure the kids didn't go hungry, and that they had three meals a day but they couldn't afford a variety. The child would probably make a lot of ruckus like the other three year olds running outside the orphanage.

Machiko was the head of the orphanage, Yūhi orphanage to be exact. Machiko was a strict, but not unkind woman, with a tired looking face. She was in fact thirty, but stressing and dealing with all these kids made her look to be in her forties. Her dark brown hair, had gained a lot of white streaks despite having help from the two other women who volunteered to work in the orphanage and that the more mature kids helped in taking care of the younger ones from time to time.

"Child, what is your name?" The Machiko asked as she took out a piece of paper and a small piece of charcoal. Using charcoals, and other non-expensive writing utensils were what they could afford to get for when they needed to write, and to teach the children.

The child looked at her with wide eyes before replying hoarsely, "Y-Yume.." She provided no further name

"No surname?"

Yume shook her head. 'Not like I can actually tell you. My parents are dead and my new family is the Vongola but revealing that information is dangerous.'

"...I see." Machiko stayed quiet for a moment before asking further questions. "How old are you?"Yume shrugged, she honestly could not tell, at least physically how old she was. Mentally she twenty but as to her physical age she wouldn't know now would she.

The woman pursed her lips before writing that information on the orphan profile sheet. "Your parents are dead, I presume?" Yume nodded, and looked down at the floor, not wanting to be reminded of the fact. After that, some further inquiries were asked and the information written down on the paper.

Getting up Machiko, stared at Yume and in a serious manner. "Yume...from the information you have given me. I can only assume you were abandoned and left for dead. We do not know the man who carried you here, but you were lucky. Had you been left there much longer, it is doubtful you would be alive." Yume's eyes widened and she looked at her shocked.

"Also the objects that were found with you will be given back to you once you have fully recovered. From now on, you are in the custody of the Yuhi orphanage." She then turned and exited the room leaving Yume even more stunned.

After that, a few days later Yume had been released from the confines of the bed and room and exited the orphanage in order to see if what the other caretakers had told her were , not before taking back her boxes and rings which she took back That she was in some village, called Konoha, which she is certain she had never heard of and that this was a ninja village.

Upon exiting she had indeed seen that they had told the truth, and she saw that the village was far behind modern times. There was no technology she could recognize and although there were similarities between her culture and theirs it was undoubtedly different.

At first, disbelief filled her, then came shock, and finally grief, at the realizations of what happened to her. From all that, she had been able to conclude that she had been sent to an alternate dimension, as a child around the age of three or four. She had been separated from her family, with hardly any hope of getting back. This crushed her, and when she returned back, she was far more quiet and gloomy than when she had left, but she didn't cry. Ever since arriving she had been quiet, the adults found it understandable as to why she was quiet. She had been abandoned, and left to die, so it was understandable that the child would not want to talk much. It could have also had been she was a very quiet child. However, they did find it odd that she seemed to understand a lot about things that no child her age would fully comprehend. For them it seemed as if there was more wisdom and intelligence in her eyes far beyond her years, but they dismissed that thought thinking it a trick of the light.

She did worry them after her perpetual gloominess persisted for weeks after the day she released outside for the first time and she had began to eat far less than the other children. Her appearance began to take a more malnourished look and she didn't care. It got to the point where Machiko finally had to take matters in to her own hands. While the health of all the children couldn't be taken care of very well, she didn't want any of the orphans to die or suffer unnecessarily if things could be taken care of without medicine.

"Yume this is quite enough. You need to stop sulking and get on with your life. You're not the first child to have been abandoned, nor the last. You have two perfectly good feet, you're not ill, and you're practically healthy! You need to eat and face the fact that while youre loss is saddening it's not the worst. Now, you will eat all of your meal, and that's final." Machiko said as she scolded Yume, and Yume had simply stared at her.

Then as Machiko's words were registering in her brain Reborn's voice started floating in her mind.

_Bakayume, stop being a baby. Do you honestly believe that Tsuna wouldn't try to get you back? Do you have so little faith in your boss? And honestly, there's is something you can do if you want to go back. Get stronger, find your own way back. If you're still this pathetically weak by the time we meet again, I will make you suffer._

She shivered at the voice said suffer and that brought her out of her thoughts and finally her eyes held a light again. She may have been going crazy hearing Reborn's voice but it did the trick. She realized that Reborn's voice was right. Tsuna would do something to get her back, no matter how long it would take he would. Because he was her Boss and he was that type of person. However, she would not stay idle either, she would get stronger and she would find a way back, no matter what. With that in mind, her eyes held a determination, a determination that Machiko saw when she arrived back with her food.

**-Flashback end-**

Since then Yume began to eat again, and talk as well with the adults. She even started helping to care for the younger orphans, as well as doing chores. She had also started to train, not anything major since it could stunt her growth but definitely start on her flexibility and speed. Many of the children found it odd when she started doing yoga poses, in the morning before breakfast, and before the children were called back into the orphanage. Some tried doing Yoga with her, and she helped if they asked but all of them quit a few days after, finding it too hard and boring.

Smiling, lightly she remembered that's exactly how she felt when she first started doing Yoga at fourteen with Tsuna in the summer before their third year at Namimori. However, she stopped complaining about it after Reborn threatened to silence her and make her training even worse. She shivered at that memory but nonetheless kept her small smile, and her light, brown eyes held sadness. She still missed them, even if it had only been a year. She missed the fights, the arguing, hell she even missed the ruckus Bel, and Lambo-kun caused at times, Squalo's and Ryohei's loudness even though it was annoying, Mukuro-san's presence even if he only appeared to criticize and bother her, Yamamoto-kun's easy going attitude, even if he had become more serious, Gokudera-kun's tendency to get angry quickly, plus his cursing fights and silliness about UMA's, Hibari's and Xanxus' quietness, and Chrome-chan's, Hana-chan's, Haru-chan's, and Kyoko-chan's comforting presences and little hibird. She missed it all, but more importantly she missed Tsuna's comforting and accepting presence. He was her Sky, even if she could never truly become the Vongola Snow Guardian because her own Lightning flames were far greater than the very rare Snow flames..

Sighing, Yume went to look for Machiko. Ever since, she had heard Reborn's voice her determination to go back home was ignited. However, at that time she didn't know of a way to make it work to leave the village without being suspicious of why she was training, and that she could be a spy. But two months ago the answer appeared to her when she overheard some of the boys from the orphanage talk about joining the Ninja Academy in the village. This was the opportunity she had been awaiting for. Certainly there would be repercussions for when she left but in the meantime it would allow her to travel, and to have an excuse for being well versed at fighting.

Apparently,to enter the academy there was going to be a test for them to take. Clan kids got in automatically, and civilian kids with guardians got in so long as their parents signed some sort of form. For the orphan's though, they had to have a sheet signed by the head of the orphanage and take a test in order to get in. She thought this was unfair but could do nothing about it and didn't voice her opinion seeing as no one would listen to the voice of an 'orphan' of three almost four years old.

So off she went to find Machiko and saw that there were four boys and two girls all a year or two older than her. One boy blonde with blue eyes, two others had brown hair and dark brown eyes, the last had black hair with dark brown eyes, and both girls had light brown hair, one had green eyes, the other had cool grey ones. They all had papers in their hands, and seemed ready to leave. Machiko, looked at me and nodded for me to come forward. "Is there something you need Yume?" She asked, seeing as she only came here when she needed something or one of the other caretakers asked her to go fetch Machiko.

The kids looked at Yume curiously, before shrugging and heading towards the door. Yume nodded at her and then stated what she wanted in a firm, and serious tone. "I want to join the Ninja Academy." The kids that were just about to leave stopped and turned looking at her as if she wasn't serious. Machiko stared at her surprised before sighing. "Yume, you're too young to join the academy."

Already prepared for that statement, Yume countered. "There is no rule that states for one to be a certain age to apply. I know because I went to the academy and asked. They said so and gave me an application sheet when I said I needed one." She didn't mention that the secretary that gave her that she probably thought she needed it for a brother or kid a bit older than her. No, that would ruin her chances.

"Still, it is unlikely you'll pass. It'd be best if you wait till next year." Machiko said trying to coax her from the thought of joining the academy. Huffing, Yume held the paper to Machiko. "I still want to go. I already wrote down all the information. I just need you to sign." Machiko sighed and shook her head. "No Yume."

Yume still held the paper up and in a serious tone, one that surprised Machiko. "How about you sign and if I fail I won't ask again till you say I am old enough?" Machiko stared at Yume's unrelenting gaze and rubbed her temples as she reluctantly took the paper and signed. "Alright, but once you fail you won't join until your seven." Yume nodded before smiling widely, and hugged Machiko around her legs. "Thank you!"

The woman was stunned, for that was the first time she had ever seen Yume smile that wide. She then broke out of her stupor and looked at the last kid who had remained, the girl with light brown hair and grey eyes. "Make sure she doesn't wander off Hana. Honestly, Yume don't go off by yourself next time."She said the last part chiddingly. At that part Yume nodded, still smiling brightly.

As she skipped out, she failed to look at the contemplative glance of Machiko and the slight angry look of the girl.

**M:Here's the second chapter. I should have been working on my typing assignment but meh, I was itching to finish writing this instead. So I hope I did a good job and I'll update as soon as I can! **

**animagirl**: Yeah, I agree Konoha isn't very familish even though they have this sense of comradeship, but even then you have to be careful on things you say. And Yume does miss the Vongola a lot. They are her family after all and family is important for her. Although I hope I do not mess up with any of the canon character's personalities, I'd love to keep their personalities in character as much as I can. Anyway's thanks for sharing the idea of her becoming the snow guardian even though it probably wasn't like you hoped. Sorry about that but I hope you still like the story and continue to stick with it. I'm glad you found Yume interesting. ^-^


	3. Chapter 3

The Test

The test proctor stared dubiously at the small four, or was it five, year old child, with brown ha that reached past her shoulders, wore an earth colored shirt and shorts, and determined light brown eyes. "I'm sorry little one, but are you sure you want to take this test?" He asked, making his voice sound polite and kind, trying to persuade her from taking the test. He didn't think a child as young as she would truly understand what she would be getting into, and have the understanding of what becoming a ninja required.

"My name is Yume, not little one, and I'm sure I want to. There's no age requirement saying I can't join." She said with confidence while turning to glare at the proctor as if she knew what he had been trying to do. She didn't like what this dark haired proctor and all the other people that were physically older than her, were insinuating on how she wasn't capable of passing.

The proctor startled at this, for he didn't expect her to sound serious despite her being very young. He would have become suspicious if not for the fact that despite of how she sounded so serious, some of her words were mispronounced because of her undeveloped vocal chords, and her eyes held no hatred or any signs of deceit in them.

"...Fine. Whatever kid." was his response after a moment of silence, and then he handed her a paper filled with questions and a rather thick pencil with no eraser. 'Now let's see if that confidence of yours can be held during the Academy if you pass.'

Contrary to what most believed, the children weren't admitted based on the scores of the test, while that was a factor in which of the classrooms they would be placed in, but rather on their response in the open ended questions. During their first year they would be observed on how well they did, before some were dropped and taken to the civilian academy.

Yume took the paper and pencil, noting as she was heading to the back of the classroom, that she was the last orphan to get the test. She also noted that some of the orphans from her orphanage as well as other orphanages were snickering, at her or had this haughty look. She mentally sighed, and tried to keep a blank look on her face. 'Honestly, I should have expected this. I'm like four or five years old and younger than some of them. Some of them look two or even three years older than me. I wonder why…' Shaking her head to herself she reached the last row and sat in the only available seat left, which was the last seat by the window.

"All right, now that everyone has a test. You may begin." The proctor said a few minutes after she had sat down. Yume looked down at the test and saw that the first ten questions were mathematics. Simple mathematics that didn't require a paragraph and were just addition and subtraction. 'You know… I had been expecting much harder but I guess it makes sense that they wouldn't ask too much seeing as most of us are kids. Well, all of us are kids and that reminds me...I wonder how Lambo and I-Pin are doing..' She quickly shook her head again. 'No, don't go thinking about that right now, I have to stay focused.' Yume then continued onto the reading and writing portion of the test. The reading part was to answer some simple questions about who, what and where some ninja were, and in the writing portion the questions were on why they wanted to be a ninja, and what was the village to them.

On this part, Yume wrote that she wanted to become a ninja to get stronger to protect those dear to her and her home, and thinking that it would be suspicious if she wrote that Konoha didn't really mean much to her she wrote on how, that Konoha was her home. That Konoha was a great place to live and that she wanted to help make the place better to live in. This wasn't a total lie, Konoha was a peaceful place to be, and she could tell it was a nice place to live in. She also did want to make it better, but not for the village as a whole but for Mariko and those in the orphanage. 'But...it's not my home. Not really...' Her eyes clouded and she slumped forward. She missed Namimori, and she missed being with the Vongola.

"Alright, seeing as everyone of you is finished, I will come along and pick up your sheets. Please pass them to your right if you're seated in left side of the room and to the left if you are seated in the middle and right side." Yume then passed her sheet to the right and she noticed that time had passed by while she had been dwelling on the thoughts of her home.

Once all the sheets were picked up the proctor went to the middle of the room where the podium."You all may leave to go play outside, but do not leave the academy grounds yet. You all will be notified around two if you were accepted or not. Until then you all may go play and do what you wish." He said and all of the kids quickly got up and exited the room. Well, all except Yume who took her time seeing that she might get pushed due to her small size. She huffed as she exited the building. 'Being small is such a hassle, but at least now I know how most children feel when looking at the adults. The all look so big!' Lost in her thoughts she failed to notice an older girl from another orphanage and bumped into her. "Ow!" Yume said as she fell to ground. Looking up she saw that she had bumped into a brown haired, mousy looking girl who glared at her."Hey watch where you're going you brat." The girl sneered as the other two girls one presumably from the same orphanage as her and Hana, the girl who walked with her to the academy, did the same.

Sensing, that if she did not apologize things could go wrong for her, Yume bowed. "I am sorry. Forgive me for not watching where I was going. I will make sure to not do that next time."

"See to it you don't." With that the girl and the other two girls walked away. Yume, not wanting for something like that to happen again looked for a secluded shady area. When she found one she decided it would be best if she meditated for a while. Getting into a meditation position she closed her eyes.

She had noted every time she meditated that there was this odd tingly sensation beneath her skin. She didn't know what it was but when she meditated she had been able to faintly sense it from everybody else. Although, she didn't think much of it, whatever this energy was she could figure it out later in time, or ask someone knowledgeable. Yume didn't want to mention it to anyone yet, seeing as it might not be normal to sense that and didn't want to have too much attention on herself. She already had enough because, she acted more mature than kids of her own age as well as those older than her, and because she did Yoga in the mornings and evenings.

After an hour of being in the meditation pose she stopped and stretched her arms. 'I wonder how much longer we have to wait. I know we left the orphanage around ten, and it took at least forty-five minutes to get here, and another fifteen to even start the test. And I'm not even sure how long the test took. Maybe it was an hour? Or an hour and a half?' Stretching her legs she shrugged. 'Ah well, we'll find out around two so it doesn't matter. I can start on doing some more Yoga too. Anything to keep me distracted from my thoughts on home.'

As she then started on Yoga she failed to notice that some of the kids were looking at her like she was a freak. They then turned to look at each other and in a silent agreement all decided that they would not associate with her. Not that Yume would mind or even care once she figured that out. After all, children and adults alike can be very judgemental on those who are not the same as them.

At around two, all the children were called back into the classroom they had tested in. In there the test proctor and two other adults, both men, wearing green flack jackets with lots of pockets on them.

All the children chattered with each other excitedly, except a few who were really nervous and didn't feel like talking. Yume was also quiet, but she was more anticipated than nervous about the results. She was sure she passed, she had to if not, her plans for becoming a ninja were put to a standstill until she was seven.

Clearing his throat the proctor fixed his forehead protector as he looked on at the children. "Quiet down, now children. I am pleased as well as surprised you have all passed the admission test to enter the academy." The children all erupted in happy chatters and Yume smiled at the news. 'I passed. Thank goodness, but...' She frowned this was all too easy. 'There must be a catch somewhere in all of this.'

"Ahem!" The proctor again cleared his throat to gather the children's attention. It took a while but the children finally quieted and looked expectantly at him and the other adults. "I know you all are excited for now you will begin training to become a ninja. In two weeks time you along with other children will be officially joining the Ninja Academy. Be sure to arrive before seven for the opening ceremony." He smiled as the children looked at him with excited and overjoyed looks on their faces.

"You all will be expected to work hard to become ninja of Konoha. However, to do so, you all will first train here, but I'm sure you all know that." He chuckled as the children ended up giving him dead-panned looks. " Well, seeing as you all seem ready bolt out of here and tell your friends back where you're from, I would like for you all to come forward. You will pick up an admission ticket so to speak. This ticket will allow you to buy the necessary supplies needed for the academy. Note however, that this will only allow you to buy in certain shops once, and only for this school year. If you lose anything, we will not hand out another until next year." He said to them seriously, and saw that some of the excited faces fell, and turned serious. "With that said, make a line to retrieve it."

The children all made a line, and Yume, once again, was the last in line. 'I still believe there is a catch to this, but I can't figure out what...Perhaps I will find out by the end of the year.' Quickly, the line thinned out and she went to retrieve her ticket which was more like a certificate that had name's inscribed on them. 'Probably the name's of the shops we can buy the stuff we need.'

She looked up at the proctor and bowed gratefully as she took her ticket.

"Ah, wait Yume-chan." He said as she was about to turn and leave. Blinking she looked at him curiously. 'I wonder what does he want?'

"We would like to discuss the fact you entering the academy."

'Oh great. Are they going to try and dissuade me?' She thought to herself irritably and the men saw that.

"Yume-chan, do not get angry. You have been allowed admittance and we won't try to discourage you from attending. However, what we would like to discuss is the fact that due to your age things might be hard for you to understand. That is why we would like to inform you beforehand that you will have to try harder and to be careful. Due to your age, it is likely your peers won't be entirely kind to you." One of the men wearing a flak jacket said as he told her in a kind tone.

She pursed her lips and bowed at them. "I appreciate the information before hand, However, I assure you I won't slack off, and will work hard. As for what the others do, I do not care. I can take care of myself." This surprised the proctors a bit in the way she spoke to them. Sure some of the words were mispronounced a little due to her developing vocal chords, but there was a level of maturity there. "Thank you for your concern, proctor-san, shinobi-san." With that she left.

Two weeks later she was at the Shinobi Academy along with many other children from all ages. Some she guessed were already academy students due to their bored looks. All around however, there was a sense of anticipation and excitement as they seemed to be waiting for someone or something. She didn't know why but she didn't bother to care. She'd find out soon after all.

Looking down she saw that her new earth colored clothing fit her better than her loosed earth colored clothing from before. She now had a long sleeved shirt, and shorts that weren't baggy anymore, and the ninja sandals. She still wasn't used to them and she wiggled her toes. 'If someone were to aim for my toes they'd be completely unprotected.'

Then she heard that all the chatter that had been going around stopped and she saw that a light-skinned man of below-average stature with greying brown spiked hair, and a goatee stood on the podium in front of the crowd. She also noted that there were some other ninja's standing near him. 'Must be his guards and he must be someone important. Hm..but why is he important? Is he perhaps the principle?'

She didn't bother thinking anymore questions as he began to speak.

"Welcome, I am happy to see so many young faces here…" He then went on to continue talking about how well he hoped they would do, about the will of fire, and that he expected great things from them but most importantly that they would do anything for the village. At least, that's the gist of what he said, but he said it in a much longer, fancier way.

She then noticed that he was gone and the children were being called to form certain groups. 'I guess they're going to separate us into classes now. Well, from this day I'm going to do what I have to become a ninja.


	4. Chapter 4

The Academy

So far Yume, had done well in the academy, picking up things faster than what many teachers expected during the first semester in the academy. Some were even calling her a prodigy by how fast she picked things up, such as math, reading writing, geography, and even weapon throwing. They even The only thing she was weak in was in sparring when they had to have hand to hand combat, but she still was pretty adept in defeating her opponent most of the time. She wore them down with her speed, and her stamina which allowed her to last longer. She along with another boy around the same year as her were considered prodigies. However, both were in separate classrooms, and the other was more skilled in the taijutsu portion of the academic course.

Yume, knew she was doing well but calling herself a prodigy would be a lie. She just simply already knew this stuff, and was mentally twenty-one. Her training with Reborn and Lal was simply another factor as to why she was doing so well. While her body may not be accustomed to most of the things she was taught, her mind still remembered and that helped her. Although, she knew she would never excel in close range combat, she was a mid to long distance combater.

During this time, she had learned many things too, such as chakra which was what she had been sensing the whole time, the different Hidden Villages, the Continents, the political system that governed the villages, and some other things. She knew she wouldn't have learned as much as she did if the teachers thought her just a regular student. They kept on pushing her, testing her on things so she had to go to the library and get books on certain topics that they had given her as homework.

Although, the academic portion she was excelling in were great, her social, or rather lack of social communication with the students from her class deteriorated a lot. They spread rumors, pushed her, bullied her and excluded her from things. This made her uncomfortable seeing as they glared at her a lot. She didn't blame them though, it would be frustrating having a kid younger than them be so much better in practically everything. However, right now she had something else to deal with.

Sighing, she shifted on her feet as she glanced at the boy next to her. He was around her age, and was very quiet. She also saw that he had black hair with a short low ponytail, and wore a black high collared shirt, that was very wide, and had a red and white symbol on the back of his shirt, had bandages around his ankles and black ninja sandals. He was polite when he had greeted her earlier but after that he didn't speak. While she didn't mind that she did find it a bit awkward, seeing as she was alone with a boy younger than her, mentally of course and the teacher which had called her was still not here. 'I wonder what the reason he called us here for was. Although I have a guess as to what it is. If the things that sensei has been giving to me is of any indication, He must be moving me up a grade or two, or it could be something else.'

_Bakayume, it's obvious you're going to move up a grade or two. You have showed them potential, and they will not let such potential go to waste. They will push you and push you until you pass. For that I congratulate them, although their teaching methods could use more work._

At that she shivered and tensed up. Reborn's voice in her head could have been a sign of insanity but she didn't think it was. It was probably conjured up by her mind as a reminder of her home, of who she is and of who she's loyal to. She then started to fiddle with her rings and boxes in her pocket at the memory of the Vongola.

'I wonder how they're doing...it's been more than a year now. How are the kids doing, and everyone? Oh how I miss them..' "How I miss them so much…" She said quietly, not knowing she had said that outloud and that had brought the boy's attention to her but he didn't ask anything.

Instead he noted, that the girl next to him had a glazed look in her eyes, with a mixture of sadness and fondness. He found himself comfortable around her, seeing as she didn't seem to squeal around him or try to get too close to him. She had just simply responded back politely and left him alone. Turning his head he saw, that some of the senseis were coming into the room in which they had been standing in for more than half an hour. Deciding he should bring her out of her reverie he softly nudged her shoulder to get her attention.

Her eyes shot towards him in question, and tilted her head slightly. He looked forward towards the teachers. Taking the hint the girl also looked forward and nodded to him in thanks.

The adults looked at them with a proud gaze. One of the senseis, of which Yume recalled his name was Ichiro, smiled at them brightly.

Ichiro-sensei then spoke. "Yume-chan, Itachi-kun we have all noted your progress and how fast you all are learning the course materials. Because of that we believe that keeping you in the same grade this year won't help you. So we will move you both ahead by two grades. Where there the work won't be easy for you both." He said brightly as he looked at them in a proud manner. "Your parents and guardians will be notified of this change in your grade level."

It had taken a while longer for Ichiro-sensei and the other sensei's to finish talking with them, and by the time they had finished an hour had passed. Both were then allowed to go home. Yume looked proud, if only because she was closer to accomplishing her goal.

The next school semester she found herself in a new classroom filled with children older than her, and far more taller. She saw that she had been placed in the same class the boy, Itachi. The teachers probably thought they'd be more comfortable in a class filled with children older than them if they had someone close to their age with them.

She couldn't say she disagreed, but more often than not, both didn't talk to each other except for a few polite exchanges between them. During this semester they had started learning, more in depth about the history of the village and the different clans that resided in the village and the four noble clans. They were Aburame, Akimichi, Hyūga and Uchiha clans, of which Itachi was part of. They had also started practicing on how to tap into their chakra, and learn the theories on how to apply chakra and use it.

During the taijutsu portion, she was still the best female in her class, but not the best overall, while she excelled in her speed and stamina, she suffered more defeats in the sparring matches.

After suffering more than half the time, for two weeks, she went to the only person she knew could help her. Uchiha Itachi.

Approaching Itachi was easy, however on how to ask him she found it difficult.

Itachi simply stared at her, with a blank look on his face as she tried to find on how to ask him. He tilted his head in question but didn't voice his silent 'What is it you want?'.

_Just ask him Bakayume, it's not that hard to ask a five year old for something now is it? Have you become a coward now ? Perhaps some training when we see each other again will help fix that._

At that she tensed, her eyes widening a bit before she gulped. It wasn't that asking was the problem is that it had been a long while since she had to ask someone for help. She had grown used to not having to rely on others for help. This could be a problem as overconfidence often leads to a downfall.

"A-ano...Uchiha-san...I um...I would like to ask for your help in taijutsu. As you've seem, close combat isn't my specialty, and my taijutsu could use some...well a lot of improvement...so please help me out?" She asked the last part in question.

Itachi was quiet for a moment before he nodded. "Alright, I'll help you out Yume-san."

She bowed gratefully. "Thank you, I appreciate this a lot Uchiha-san."

"When should we meet for sparring practice?" He asked.

"Ah..would this weekend suffice?"

"Yes."

"Then this weekend if you please." Yume said before bowing once again gratefully.

After that training sessions, took place on the weekends and he helped her improve. Often he would give suggestions, point out her openings, enforce harder a harder training regimen but not as hard as Lal's or Reborns, so everything was more manageable, and her flexibility also helped.

It would take a few dozen training sessions, but by the end she would again be able to win more than half the times she sparred in class. Her weapons throwing was nearly as good as Itachi's, but she beat him in speed and stamina.

After that school year they were once again called by the senseis and were move up another two years. By now they would be in a class of nine year olds.

During this time, Machiko hadn't been happy that Yume had advanced so far and too quickly. In her mind despite the fact that Yume acted a lot older than kids her age she was still a kid. She made certain that Yume heard her thoughts and opinions on the fact that she was moving too quickly into a career of killing. It would change her, it would destroy her innocence.

However, what Machiko didn't know was that Yume was very aware of that fact. After all, the same could be said about the Mafia. It wasn't a forgiving place, nor was it an innocent place either but Tsuna hadn't changed despite that. He still stayed the same.

Pushing thoughts of Tsuna behind her, she didn't want to dwell too much into it right now because she would start to sulk. Instead, during her time off in the summer she would start on helping around the chores more, take care of the kids, help them. Anything to keep her mind from going down a dark path, and make her doubt about her decision.

The next school year the classes became more difficult, and actually required her to think more critically. Itachi also had to study more, but not as much as her. It would take her a longer while to understand questions, but not too much. During this time she and Itachi had gotten closer, so to speak. They didn't talk often, but could hold a conversation at times. Talking about what they learned, their likes, dislikes.

From their few conversations, she had learned he was an older brother, heir to the Uchiha clan, his two parents were caring but strict and not very expressive, he liked learning about the world, not just Konoha, and he was a pacifist by nature. At that she looked at him sadly, the fact that he hated violence, reminded her of Tsuna. He too hates violence.

She wasn't the only one that learned things. He too learned things about her. He found that she she loved sweets, liked learning, she was indifferent towards the rumors and snarky remarks other made of her, she was kind, secretive in her own way, and always he found her singing a small tune. When he asked her what it was she just smiled, and said. "I'll tell you someday." He suspected it might have been a tune her mother or caregiver taught her before she was left in the orphanage she resided in now. Still, he never asked, for she would tell him in due time, when and how he didn't know but she would.

**M:Finished with this! I don't expect it was a lot but two chapters in one day! YAY! I hope you all liked it.**

**animagirl: I hope this answer your questions if she meets Itachi soon. I hope I didn't make him OOC I'd hate if I did that. I was thinking of this pairing but I wasn't too sure. **


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn! or Naruto.

Meetings

It was during their second year in the academy, while training that Yume met Shisui Uchiha. It was an amusing meeting at that too.

Her and Itachi had been in the middle of a spar when all of a sudden she heard a yell. "ITACHI-CHAN!" At that Itachi had stopped and his face turned pale as blur passed by her and pounced on him. "So this is where you've gone all of these times! Maa~ Why didn't you tell me you were got yourself a girlfriend?"

She tilted her head as she saw a boy with unkempt dark colored hair, and was wearing the standard uchiha clothes, on top of Itachi and was smothering him. Although, it was more to annoy and fluster Itachi than anything else. Amused she laughed a bit. as Itachi pushed off the older boy off him. "Ow! That hurt my feelings Itachi-chan!" Itachi rolled his eyes at that but didn't comment. The boy then got up and then turned to look at her. "Hello there chibi-chan! I'm Shisui Uchiha, Itachi-chan's best friend!"

Yume bowed politely and remarked, "His only friend too I presume."

"That's true! But wait aren't you two friends?"

Yume shrugged. "I'm not sure. I can consider him my friend but that won't make him my friend would it. 'Sides he's been helping me in my taijutsu, so we may be more like comrades than anything."

Shisui nodded, rubbing his chin sagely. "True, true." Then turning to Itachi. "So the answer lies in you. Is she your friend Itachi-chan?"

"I've told you before Shisui, don't call me that. And to answer your question, yes I do consider her a friend."

"Well there you have it…" Shisui looked at her expectantly. Realizing she hadn't introduced herself she bowed again.

"Ah sorry Uchiha-san. I am Yume."

"It's a pleasure to meet you Yume-chan! You can call me Shisui-kun, Uchiha-san makes me sound stuffy." He waved his hand in an off hand manner and sat down on one of the big sized rocks near the area the were in. Frowning, Yume shook her head. "I'm sorry but I don't believe I'd be comfortable referring to you as such...so perhaps I'll just settle with sempai."

"Sempai eh? I could get used to that."

Itachi slightly frowned at this."Yume-san please don't go inflating his ego. He has a big one as it is."

Yume shrugged. "Uchiha-san...now that you've cleared we're friends, may I refer to you as Itachi-san?" At that Itachi nodded and turned to look at Shisui.

"Shisui, why are you here?"

"Ah, easy. You're mother came to me to look for you. Apparently, there will be a clan party later today and she wants you to get ready." Was Shisui's bored response.

"I see…"

During this time, Yume had take to observe Shisui and noted that his personality reminded her of Yamamoto to an extent. At that her eyes watered slightly. It had been two years since she arrived here, and still nothing had come up to give her any clue if Tsuna or anyone had found a way to get her. She felt a pang in her chest at the thought. Then she felt a slight nudge on her arm, and saw that Itachi had this questioning look in his eyes.

"Ah, I'm sorry Itachi-san. Just lost in my thoughts...and from what Sempai said. You should go ahead to get ready. I'm sure your clan wouldn't be happy if you arrived late, and unclean to a party."

Shisui snorted at that. "Yes! Goodness knows how much the elders nag and all the adults have these looks in their eyes if we're not dressed properly."

She tilted her head and smiled amused."Is that so? I'm sure that doesn't matter too much in the end. They are family after all."

"Yeah, but still. It'd be better without the whole, we're better than everyone attitude that most of our clan has."

"Ah…" Yume's then glazed over. "But they're still family, despite the flaws they have…" Closing her eyes she then forced her tears away. She then smiled politely, "it's best I be going now. It was a pleasure to meet you Shisui-sempai, Itachi-san." She bowed respecfully to them. "It was nice sparring with you again Itachi-san."

He nodded but eyes and Shisui's had caught the momentary look of sadness but didn't mention it. "Till next time Yume-chan." Shisui said as he smiled brightly.

With a small smile Yume waved as she left the training grounds.

"So….she your girlfriend or no?"

Shisui then received a hard hit and punch in his face and stomach.

* * *

After that Shisui came by more often when they sparred, and she even sparred against him. It was far more challenging due to Shisui's age and height advantage. He was at least four years older than her, making him ten if she was indeed six years old. He beat her more often than naught, just like Itachi did.

She didn't mind mostly, but it did irritate her that she lost more than she would like to admit to a six year old. Shisui beat her a lot too but for some reason, Itachi seemed to beat Shisui most of the time too, whenever they took a turn to spar.'If I didn't know better I'd say he's been holding back. That little bugger. Probably went easy on me whenever we sparred, but not too easy seeing as he still beat me most of the time. Still, I guess I can't complain, it's not as bad as Reborn's training. Fucking spartan, sadistic tutor trying to kill us with bullets and dynamite.' She pursed her lips as she glared off into space. Right now it was the weekend, and she was itching to do something other than spar or train with her ninja weapons. Lately, she had been getting this big urge to use her Vongola weapons seeing as she hadn't practiced in so long with them. However, that could cause trouble if she was caught with them. A lot of trouble that would take her immediately to the T&amp;I Division for questioning and boy would that lead to a lot of questions.

Stiffling down her urge to use her box weapons she got up and decided to roam around the village. While doing this she began humming the Namimori Middle School Anthem. It was one of the only things she still had from her home that she could cling onto. Chuckling to herself she thought on how Hibari would be proud of another student singing his beloved school song. She then noted amused that if he had been here he would become very angry due to all the crowding that occured because of the busy streets. "Kamikorosu indeed he would say." She said out loud to herself as she then turned around a corner of the street.

Recently, the teachers had begun to teach them how to begin controlliing their chakra and spread it evenly through out ones body. Too much or too little and the jutsu they would use would fail. Also at the beginning of the year, she had begun taking kunoichi classes, which to her dismay weren't fun at all. Of course, she had already known it wasn't going to be sunshine and rainbows in that class but a lot of the girls there held a lot of animosity towards her, and that made her uneasy. People could do awful things when they felt hateful towards someone else.

'Well….it could be worse I guess...'

Sighing she then looked here and there she saw that she was near one of the Akimichi restaurants and that the food smelled realy good. Her stomach growled at that, but she knew she couldn't afford buying something from there. It was too expensive for an orphan like her.

As she was lost in her thoughts she failed to notice that a someone had been following the whole time. It wouldn't be till much later that she would find out how close she had been from joining one of the most dehumanizing programs in the village. However, for now she kept on looking at the Akimichi restaurant and on a whim entered just to see how the place looked on the inside. To her surprise, it resemble somewhat the apparal of Yamamoto's Dad's shop, although the Akimichi restaurant held more seats, and offered a wider variety than just sushi. Her stomache growled again at the thought of Yamamoto's dad's sushi. "I could really go for some of his sushi. It's been a long time since I had anything other than porridge, oats, gratin, and rice with vegetables and a bit of fish every once in a while…" Her stomach growled again but she sighed and tried to hold back her stomache from growling without making it too noticeable.

While doing this, she saw that a baby of around two years old, had been left on a seat by himself and that he was terribly close to falling while asleep. She went over to the baby and noted that he had a white symbol, with some sort of squigly line patterns on it. She knew she had seen it somewhere. 'Now where have I seen it...'She quickly got out of her thought process as the baby fell over the edge of the seat and she caught him. Quickly she put him back onto the seat but farther from the edge as he continued to sleep on.

"You my dear young friend, are lucky I caught you before you fell. If not I expect you'd have a nice big lump on your forehead right now." She said musing to herself at the prospect. He'd have probably made a lot of noise too. She then noticed the boy opening his eyes.

* * *

While this had been going on a woman with long dark hair, was just coming back from the washroom saw her baby about to fall. Her baby had been under the watch of one of the Akimichi cooks but the cook had probably been called for something and had left her child ungaurded. Thankfully, the lttle girl near him, caught him before he fell and as she neared she over heard what she was saying.

"...I expect you'd have a nice big lump on your forehead right now." She then saw the girl turn and the girl's eyes widened a fraction as she looked at her and then the child. Realization as to who she was appeared on her face and she bowed.

"Hello ma'am. Sorry for intruding on you, I had been merely passing by when I had saw your son was about to fall. You know you should be more careful next time as to where he is." The girl then bowed again. "Again, sorry for intruding, I shall be leaving now." As the girl was about to turn her stomache growled. The girl blushed at that , and muttered a quick apology.

However, before she could leave the woman stopped her. "Wait child. What is your name?"

"Yume ma'am."

The woman blinked in surprise, it was possible this child was the one that many of the ninja instructors in the academy were talking about along with the Uchiha boy. Supposedly, they both got along well. "Yume...are you perhaps the Yume who is friends with the Uchiha Itachi"

At that the girl nodded, and smiled. "Yes, he and I are friends."

"I see...Well, thank you Yume-chan for catching little Shikamaru." She would have to watch little Shikamaru next time, instead of leaving him in the care of someone else.

* * *

"No problem ma'am." Yume again made a move to leave but was again stopped by the woman.

"Yume-chan, would you please wait? I need to go talk with the Akimichi for something." Blinking Yume tilted her head slightly but nodded. 'You know it's not wise to leave you're child behind witha stranger.' She thought as she watched the woman move towards the counter. She then took her eyes off the woman when she felt the sensation of eyes staring at her. She looked and saw that the gaze came from the baby. He held this pouty, lazy look in his eyes as if telling her he wanted something or accusing her. "Sorry kid, but I don't know what it is you want and if it's your mother she'll be back soon. Right now I'm just standing here on gaurd. Also it's not my fault you woke up."She said the last part amused as the child continued to give her that look. She then began to hum the Namimori Middle School Anthem again. Her stomach growled again, and she blushed again. 'Ergh, I'm so hungry and the smell here isn't helping any.'

The kid had held his gaze for a while but later, as she had been humming he seemed to haved decided it was too much work to keep up. He yawned and closed his eyes with the tune lulling him back to sleep. By this time the woman had returned and had seen the last portion of Shikamaru giving her that look before closing his eyes and Yume humming. "Alright, I'm back now. Yume-chan here I'd like you to have it." The woman then gave her a small bag filled with some of the barbeque from the restaurant.

Realizing that Yume shook her head and had stopped her humming. "I'm sorry but I cannot accept that. I didn't do anything to deserve it ma'am,"

The woman smiled as she picked up her child. "Nara, Yoshino."

"Huh?"

"My name is Yoshino, and it is a gift Yume-chan."

"Er...thank you then ma..err..Nara-san." She bowed gratefully before taking the small bag and as she was exiting the restaurant she noted that Nara Yoshino was walking besides her. "Ano….Nara-san what are yo-"

"Escorting you home, despite your accomplishments, you could be picked off the streets. This is my way of repaying you. A bright girl like you would make a valuable sum of money, or investment depending on the person. So I shall escort you back home, even if that weren't the case a child like yourself shouldn't be roaming around by herself."

At that Yume slumped her shoulders but didn't say anything knowing that the Nara woman was right. The figure that had been watching from a far continued to observe for a while longer before disappearing.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Katekyo Hitman Reborn!

Graduation Exam

Time had passed, and now she and Itachi were taking the ninja academy graduation exam along with Shisui. They had been moved another few grade levels and were put into Shisui's class. During this time, classes had become more difficult and while she could pass by through the academic portion better than most her peers, except for Itachi, she lagged behind him and Shisui in speed and strength. She wouldn't say she lagged too far behind since she was still at the top female student in class, but the fact that they were stronger than her allowed to stabilize her ego.

Because of that, during the year she had started incorporating, more of Reborn's and Lal's tort- ahem - training into her daily regimen. She now instead of just doing push ups, throwing her practice weapons, meditation, and Yoga, she pushed herself more. She didn't stop practicing her taijutsu katas till she felt too tired to move a muscle, she even bought some arm weights to make it harder for her, and she also started incorporating some more extreme challenges that both of her mafia tutors would have approved. It was difficult to say the least, but in the back of her mind she relished the feeling because it brought nostalgia to her.

* * *

"_Bakayume! Keep running! Move faster!" BANG! A bullet was shot towards her feet and she picked up her pace fearful of incurring Reborn's wrath. "You too Dame-Tsuna! Pick up the pace or I'll increase the amount of time you have to run around Namimori." BANG! Another shot was heard._

"_EEEII! Okay, Okay! I'm picking up the pace!" Tsuna said as he also increased his pace, even though it was clear to see he was exhausted. Muttering something under his breath about 'sadistic, unreasonable, and crazy tutors'. _

_BANG!_

"_What was that Dame-Tsuna?" A small child wearing around the age of seven wearing a black suit and fedora said as he rode in a scooter beside them. He had grown a bit after the curse had been removed and he seemed to be happier by that fact but it was hard to tell. After all, his goal was to shape Tsuna into the Neo Vongola Decimo even if Tsuna still vehemently denied becoming Decimo . "I believe you want to do this the rest of the day then?"_

_Tsuna paled and gulped."No-Nothing Reborn! I said nothing!" Even after all the things they had gone through, Reborn was still very harsh towards Tsuna. Yume during that time had been watching their interactions with amusement and laughed. "Hehheh, Tsuna-kun, you should really learn to mutter quieter." She said while laughing as they turned around the corner._

_As they were running, they passed Ryohei, who was doing his daily afternoon jogging routine. "Good afternoon Ryohei-kun! Looking good there!" Yume waved as she spotted him. Ryohei turned to look and smiled at them as he joined them. _

"_EXTREME afternoon Yume-chan, Sawada-san! You're doing some EXTREME training too?" He asked rather loudly, and Tsuna and Yume sweatdropped but didn't slow down, afraid of what Reborn would do to them if they stopped. They were already getting used to Ryohei's loudness and choice of words._

"_We-well, I wouldn't say we're doing anything too extreme onii-san." Tsuna said nervously, not wanting to give Reborn any ideas of increasing the intensity of their training_

_Ryohei smiled at that, and then loudly exclaimed. "Then let's make this EXTREME! LET'S MAKE IT A RACE TO RUN ALL AROUND NAMIMORI FIVE, NO, EIGHT TIMES! IF I WIN SAWADA YOU SHALL JOIN THE BOXING CLUB!" He exclaimed loudly._

_Tsuna paled considerably and tripped, and Yume stopped to help him up. Ryohei had stopped too but continued to jog in place. "Tsuna-kun are you ok?" She asked._

"_Y-yes!" Turning to Ryohei he said. "Onii-san I do-"_

"_GREAT! NOW LET'S EXTREMELY START! ON THE COUNT OF THREE! 1...2...and 3!" He then took off. _

"_on't want to…" Tsuna's voice trailed off and he groaned, at the realization that Ryohei didn't listen at all. At that Yume snickered. "Better start running Tsuna-kun, or you'll be stuck in the boxing club." _

_Tsuna sent a weak glare to Yume, and grumbled. "She's right Dame-Tsuna. Count this as part of your training." Reborn said, as he had this amused look in his eyes. "Better start running now or you'll never catch up." Tsuna shot a weak glare at Reborn too but stopped when realizing what he was doing and took off running in the direction Ryohei went._

_Yume smiled as she watched Tsuna run quickly. 'He sure has started to change since we met...'_

"_Ne, Bakayume did you think I forgot about you?" At that Yume gulped as she looked nervously at Reborn. " You best start running again," He said getting a glint in his eye that spelled trouble. "Or perhaps you'd like to join Dame-Tsuna as well.."_

"_NO! I'm running! I'm running!" She then resumed running, not wanting Reborn to make her run around Namimori eight times._

* * *

Suffice to say, Reborn still made her do more the next day, even though her muscles were screaming for rest. Tsuna had it even worse, so that was a small relief to her that she didn't suffer that much.

She sighed. "Tsuna-kun….Ryohei-kun...Reborn…" She said out loud to herself as she stared up at the sky with her back resting against the wall. Today was the graduation exam and she, Itachi and Shisui were going to take it. She felt nervous, but she knew she had no reason to, but it was still something she couldn't help but feel.

"Who's Tsuna-kun, Ryohei-kun and Reborn, Yume-chan?" A voice said to her from her left. She jumped slightly, startled because she didn't hear them approach. Turning she saw that Shisui was very close to her and was peering at her curiously. Frowning, she looked away, turning her gaze back towards the sky. It's not that she didn't want to be rude, or want to hang around Shisui. He was a fun, interesting person and so was Itachi in his own way. It was just she didn't want to get too close to anyone. She was afraid of what would happen when she left, of when she had to go home. If she got too close, she felt as if she wouldn't want to leave this place.

That scared her, and because of that she found herself not being as talkative, or expressive as with the people back home. This hurt Shisui and Itachi to an extent, she knew that. They were her friends after all and they were pretty honest and open with her. 'But...if I open myself to them fully...I have a feeling..no. I know I'll be conflicted when I go home…'

Closing her eyes, she sighed as she still felt Shisui's questioning gaze. "They are….important people of mine." Was all she offered as she noticed that Itachi was approaching them.

"Oh. So is one of them you're crush?" He asked curiously while getting a mischievous glint in his eyes. He could use this to tease her if she did, and if not bother her at times if they were. She frowned at that comment and shook her head.

"No."

"Then wha-"

"Sempai, you ask too many questions. Besides what we should be focusing on is the test. Don't want to fail the test now do you?"

At that Shisui huffed. "I'm doing well and you know it. Itachi, can even testify for that." Itachi raised his brow at the mention of his name.

"Yeah, yeah. I know." She said as she then moved away from the wall and headed inside along with all the other kids that were starting to arrive. She and the Uchiha's got to the academy earlier than the other students. For them it was because for the Uchiha it'd be an insult on their pride if any of their children weren't prompt or ready. It also helped as an incentive for avoiding their worst enemy. Fangirls. Or fanboys depending on which gender you were. For Yume, it was to avoid having to spend any more time with the other children her age who would glare at her. They didn't do anything bad, but it did make her uncomfortable, she preferred to stay in the background. As snow guardian it was necessary when going unnoticed when surveilling, and scoping out before hand the area when there were enemies.

'You know...being in the spotlight has really gotten me tense too much.' She thought to herself as she walked in between both Uchiha's. It didn't help that being considered a prodigy and hanging out with two equally talented Uchiha boys. She had started to notice that she was tense a lot and even Shisui and Itachi had commented every now and again that she was very tense most of the time lately.'But it can't be helped...hopefully I will eventually fade into the background and be considered a regular soldier of this village someday. However, that's unlikely.' She grimaced at that thought but sighed in resignation.'Well better get this over with.'

'I passed.' Yume thought as she stared at the forehead protector with Konoha's symbol on the metal plate. Many had already put on theirs and were showing their parents and guardians happily that they got it. She however, was reluctant to put it on. To her it felt as if she was betraying her loyalty for working under someone else that wasn't Tsuna or the Vongola. She knew she would have to, and she had come to terms that it was necessary, but it didn't mean she liked it. Looking at the navy blue cloth she then noticed that both Itachi and Shisui had tied there forehead protectors around their forehead.

"Hey Yume! See, I told you there was nothing to worry about! I passed!" Shisui said as he pointed to the metal on his forehead protector while grinning. "It was easy. And making a clone was also easy."He said, commenting on the bunshin jutsu they had to perform in order to pass. "Hm..hey how come you're not wearing your ninja headband?"

"Don't feel like it."

"Ne, come on put yours on too. That way we can all be matching."

Yume made a face. "Yeah, no."

"Aww Come on!"

She crossed her arms and gave him a look. "Stop being such a kid."

"Stop being such a stick in the mud, you old lady."

"Then that makes you a brat then."

"Old crone."

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever, I won't continue this anymore, unless I want Itachi to hit us again." It was true, he had hit both of them on the back of the head to stop them from arguing when they did for a long time. She looked, and saw that Itachi did indeed look ready to hit them despite his almost blank look.

"Yume-san, it would be appropriate to wear it. You are a Genin now, and kunoichi in training of the village."

Hiding a grimace, she nodded. "I know. I'll put it on later."

"What's wrong with now?"

"Nothings wrong with now. I just don't feel like putting it on at the moment."

Shisui gave her a long look. "Yume-chan...something's been on your mind lately. You're talking even less to us, and you're spacing out more. Even the tune you always hum, we've heard less of it….Yume-chan. You can talk to us you know we're your friends. Arent' we?"

Her shoulders tensed, and she closed her eyes. She knew that she had been doing that, but she couldn't help it. However to set them at ease, for Itachi had nodded at what Shisui said and looked at her questioningly. "Of course we're friends...it's just..are we going to like this again after we get assigned our teams?" As she said that, she found that those words were true. She did wonder about that too. What would happen to them after this. They have already graduated so now what would they do. What would happen to her. She doubted she would continue living in the orphanage.

"Oh...well I guess I never thought of that..:"Shisui stayed silent for a moment. "But I'm sure we'll figure it out somehow! Don't worry ok?"

"..."

Shisui then sighed and slumped his shoulders forward, not knowing what to do. Yume just looked up at the sky, with her back towards him. He looked at her and then towards Itachi who just shrugged. Shisui frowned before slowly his mouth turned upwards into a mischievous smile. Quickly, he got behind Yume and ruffled her hair, knowing it would annoy her and he took her forehead protector.

"Hey!" She turned to glare at him before her eyes were covered with a cloth. Then the cloth was moved out of her eyes and placed on her forehead. She felt it get tied around her head and she stopped glaring. "Heh heh now we all match."

"...Heh." She rolled her eyes, as she let out a small laugh. He had made the decision for her of putting on the thing. 'What a brat..' She thought as she then noticed she had to go back to the orphanage. "I should be going now.."

"Oh that's right! We need to be going too! Fugaku-sama won't like it if we're late." He said as he took Itachi by the hand. Before he left, Yume said something that made him grin widely, and Itachi also hold a small smile.

"Thank you...Shisui-kun."

"Heh, no problem." He waved off her thanks. At that she gave him a smile, before turning and heading towards the Yuhi orphanage. "Till next week, Yume-chan!"

She waved a hand, with her back facing him, but he could tell that she was alright now.

**M:Hey! Another two chapters finished! ^-^ I did my best to not make any of the characters too OOC and I think I did an ok job with the KHR chararacters. After all, the timeline is after the manga finishes, so as they grow older they will change but not too much. Hopefully I didn't mess up anything with Shisui or Itachi. Anyways, thanks for reading so far on this fic. I hope everyone enjoyed these next two chapters I added.**

**animagirl: **Yes she is! Wow, how'd you guess it was the namimori song?

**Guest: **I don't know who you are but thanks for the encouragement! I'll keep working hard and trying my best into making this an interesting fanfic!


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own KHR or Naruto.

Team

During the weekend she had her photo taken for her ninja registration form. It was just like taking a regular picture back at home, except the camera was more of an old school kind of camera. It didn't take long either and when she had gotten back to the orphanage, Machiko kept giving her disapproving glances while the other girls were looking at her with envy. She had already gotten a lecture from Machiko about being a ninja so young, and the horrors that would happen to her.

She didn't bother listening because she had already heard the same lecture a couple of dozen times and just nodded her head when it was appropriate. When Machiko had finished she'd decided to escape to someplace quiet and only showed up for lunch, dinner and bedtime. Although, she hardly got any sleep due to her thinking what she was going to do now that she was a Genin.

That was during the weekend, and now on it was Monday. Today was the day she and everyone else was going to be assigned to teams, and she felt nervous. From now on, she would officially be working for the village, taking in requests and orders from the Hokage. This did not sit well with her, but she knew it was a price to pay to achieve her goal. She would deal with it but if she had to choose, she would obey Tsuna's orders above anyone else's. She knew how Tsuna was, and how he despised the notion of killing to achieve the objective. Konoha was similar in a way and they didn't kill as much as other villages, but if things came to pass they would kill without hesitation, even accepting jobs. Tsuna would never do that, even though the Varia took care of the assassination and killing jobs, but it was never without the knowledge that they were a danger to the Vongola.

'Well...I'll just have to deal with it for now.' She thought as she headed inside the academy entrance and towards her classroom. As she opened the doors to her classroom she noted that everyone was already inside. 'I must be the last one to arrive then. Probably should have gotten up earlier.' She noted as she had gotten up around eleven and they had to start arriving at the academy around twelve.

'Oh well.' She mentally shrugged as she saw that Shisui, who was sitting next to Itachi was waving his hand in the air.

"Yume-chan over here! We saved you a spot." He said loudly to get her attention. She started walking towards him and noted that he and Itachi were in the middle row, in the middle of the classroom and that the free spot was next to Itachi. She smiled gratefully to them and sat down.

"So, so you ready Yume-chan? I can't wait to meet our sensei, I bet he'll be super cool and we'll get to go on awesome missions." He said excitedly as he beamed at her.

She rolled her eyes. "Yes, I am ready and don't get your hopes up, you never know if our sensei will look cool or not. Besides what makes you so sure it will be a he? It could be a she you know."

"Eh, but it'll more likely be a he. I mean, that there are a lot more male shinobi than female ones." At that she couldn't argue.

"True but it still doesn't mean that the small possibility of being a female sensei is out." Itachi sensing that a debate whether it would be a female or male would occur decided to intervene.

"Yume-san, I've been meaning to ask you something for a long while now."

"Okay, what is it?" She asked as she turned to look at him instead of glaring at Shisui. Shisui just grinned and stretched his back.

"That tune your always humming...where did you learn it?"

She tensed slightly but relaxed when she realized that it was about time she did give him an answer to that question. "Ah...I learned it back home. It was a tune that was often played in the mornings and afternoons." She replied omitting the specifics and then as an after thought she added. "During ceremonies, it was also played."

Itachi was quiet for a while. "Oh."

"Yeah.."

The door to the class then opened and their sensei for this year entered. He was pretty young, was tan, and had dark brown hair.

"Everyone, if I may have your attention please." Everyone became quiet as they gave their sensei their undivided attention as their excitement filled the air. " As you all know, as of today you all are genin ninja, the lowest level. Through many trials and test you have all passed, and you will face many more from this day. You all will be placed into a three man squads led a jonin sensei, a high level ninja. Each team was made to compliment each squad member, for both strengths and weaknesses. Now please pay attention as I call out each squad and its members."

"Squad 1 Yamanaka Akira, Amano Ichigo , Chiba Chika…."

* * *

" Finally, Squad 11 Uchiha Shisui, Uchiha Itachi, Yume." They were the last squad to be called and Yume was surprised they were all placed in the same group.

"Well looks like we're all in the same group, now you don't have to worry about what will happen to us!" Shisui grinned as everyone else got together into their squads and headed out the classroom. Yume nodded. "Yeah...I guess.." But something didn't seem right about this to her, they were all at the top of the class so why would they place them in the same squad. It didn't seem like this was a team that was supposed to balance out the weaknesses and strength of each other. 'There must be a reason..but what..'

"Hm, what's wrong not happy?"

"No, it's not that. Just thinking of something.."

"Do you know how long we'll have to wait?"

"Nope."

"...Useless."

"Hey!"

She smirked. " Sempai, Itachi-san should we stay here or go outside."

"Hm...outside." Shisui.

"Outside." Itachi.

"Okay." She got up and headed outside. "Should we go get something?"

"Yes! Hey how about we go get some dango?"

At that Itachi nodded eagerly. Yume pursed her lips and checked how much allowance she had saved, which wasn't all too much but it should be enough for a bit of dango. "Yeah sure."

* * *

"Bwahahahah! Oh man you two are hilarious!" Shisui was laughing as they returned back to the academy.

"I don't see what's so amusing.." Yume said annoyed.

"But but pfft!" Shisui against burst out laughing as Yume was taking out twigs and leaves out of her hair. "Stop laughing sempai."

Itachi was merely quiet while also taking out some twigs and leaves out of his hair. He then began to dust off his clothes.

Shisui continued. "But it was hilarious you and he were were."

"One word about it and I will personally silence you."

"But Yume-chan! Hehheh I never expected you to get so, so angry over sweets!" Shisui finally calmed down from laughing and smirked. "Who knew you were so obsessed with sweets."

Yume's eyebrow twitched. 'Well you go trying to go without being able to eat delicious sweets most of the time and when you do buy some, someone decides it's a good idea to eat it.' She glared at Shisui and huffed. 'What would you do then? Stupid sempai.'

"Ano...Sorry Yume-san.." Itachi said after he had finished dusting himself off. Yume glared at him and Itachi fidgeted slightly. With a huff Yume turned around and rubbed her hand over her forehead. She then sighed.

"...It's fine. I apologize as well. You're now sporting some scratches because of me." Itachi then rubbed his hand over a superficial scratch that Yume caused when she had attacked him and the dango stick had made a scratch on him.

"It's alright. It's my fault, I didn't expect for you to react so strongly." He said as he made a mental note of not getting in between Yume and her sweets. '..at least when she's looking and knows how much she has.'

During this time Shisui had been watching them and smiled. 'I feel as if they've gotten a bit more closer. It's a good thing too, both don't know how to be open with other people their age. Ah well...'

"Hey we should go back into the class, I bet our Sensei should be there."

Both Itachi and Yume nodded as they followed Shisui inside. Inside he noted that Jonin senseis were already there. There were nine male and two females. He also noted that they were one of the last squads to enter seeing as a few more entered behind them.

Everyone was quiet for a moment before one of the Jonin cleared his throat. "Alright, Squad 1. Follow me." The members of Squad 1 got up and followed after the Jounin. The same process happened for the rest and at the end they were left.

Their sensei was a man who looked to be in his mid twenties, had a small scar on his cheek, was tan, and had short cropped hair. He wore the standard Jonin uniform, with his forehead protector wrapped around his shoulder."Okay. Squad 11 you're with me."

He then exited the classroom and they followed him. He led them to one of the empty practice fields that the academy used. He sat on one of the large stones with three much smaller, but still quite large rocks, in front. Itachi sat in the middle one, while Shisui took his left and Yume the right one.

"Alright, first things first introductions." He said boredly while looking at them lazily. "My names Yamato Daitaro. My likes are reading, fishing, and some other things you all don't need to know about. Dislikes are annoyances, sour food, and rule breakers. Hobbies, don't feel like telling. As for dreams for the future...don't really know. I'll figure it out when I get there."

Yume sweatdropped. 'Is he being serious?'

"Alright you on the right, introduce yourself."

Yume blinked, caught off guard for a moment. "Erm...right. I'm Yume, don't have a last name as I'm an orphan. My likes are sweets, music, learning things, the sky and the weather, birds, butterflies and the color blue. Dislikes people trying to steal my sweets," At this she gave a pointed stare at Itachi and Shisui. " extreme training, and people trying to harm those I care for. Hobbies, well I read and...I train so does that count?" She tilted her head in confusion before continuing. " As for my dream...I want to find my Sky…"At that all of them looked at her weirdly.

"I knew you were werid but I didn't think that weird Yume-chan."

She shrugged not really caring that it sounded weird, after all they didn't really know what she was referring to.

"...Okay now you in the middle."

"I'm Uchiha Itachi, My likes are my family, taking care of my little brother, my friends, peace, learning about everything, sweets, and my friends. One of my dislikes is fighting.. Hobbies are training, sparring with Yume-san, and reading. My dream for the future is to get stronger to keep the peace of Konoha." Itachi said in a quiet but clear voice.

Yume had this urge to pat him on the head, she knew he didn't like fighting but he'd do it to protect Konoha.'Poor Itachi...we'll all be walking a bloody path now..' She thought. 'It's not fair to have someone like him fight.'

_Bakayume, this fate is unavoidable. You know he is clan heir and is expected to become a strong shinobi. Despite the fact that he hates fighting and reminds you of Tsuna, doesn't mean he is like him. Don't feel pity and sadness where it's not necessary._

Frowning, she went back to looking at her sensei, deciding to not think of Reborns words for now. She could think about it later at some other time.

"Last, the one on the left."

"Alright! I'm Uchiha Shisui. I have lots of likes, For instance teasing Yume-chan and Itachi-chan, I also love jokes, pranks, sweets, spicy food, my family and Konoha. My dislikes, well I dislike traitors, and the attitude most of our clan members have. For some of my hobbies, I prank others, tease Yume-chan and Itachi-chan, and train. And my dream for the future is to get strong in order to protect those I care about." He said cheerfully, as both Itachi and Yume gave him irritated stares at the part where he said he liked to tease them.

* * *

Daitaro, had been observing them, while continuing to hold a lazy gaze. 'They are all certainly unique. two are prodigies with differing goals. The boy as much as you'd expect from an Uchiha and the other Uchiha kid...much different from the other clan kids.' He thought as he then stared at the sky. 'The girl wishes to find her sky. That is too vague and can lead to a number of inferences…." He then sighed and closed his eyes. 'Honestly what was the Hokage thinking when they put these three together. Yes, it is obvious that they will work together without trouble, but that's not the point. They are far more ahead in proficiency than the other academy graduates. The fact that he said that they were put in the group due to certain circumstances was off putting too...Ah, whatever. It can't be changed anymore.'

"You all are certainly unique, each having your own separate personalities and dreams. From the data I was given, you all were the highest in the class and the most promising. However, despite all this to become an official Genin you have to pass one more test." The three kids looked at him surprised.

He ignored those looks and continued. "Only three of the eleven squads will pass so that leaves only nine academy graduates will become official genin. Tomorrow, meet me at Training Ground 12, don't eat breakfast and be there by seven o'clock. With that said I'll be going now." He then made a handsign and in a flurry of leaves seemingly disappeared. In truth he was hidden behind the branches of a tall tree, observing them.

"Well...that makes more sense." Itachi and Shisui turned to look at her questioningly after their shock had subsided. Rolling her eyes she said. "Honestly, haven't you two wondered why the academy graduation exam was too easy? It makes more sense now, only some actually become genin, while the others don't, all because the Jonin is the final trial to become one."

"Ah, well now that I think of it. That makes a lot of sense." Was Shisui's response as he rubbed the back of his head with his right hand. Itachi had just nodded but had a contemplative look in his eyes. Yume then looked at the sun and noted that it was beginning to set.

"I better go now before I get scolded again."

"Hm?" Shisui then saw that the sun was starting set. "We should be going back too." He and Itachi got up and turned to her. "Hey you know where Training Ground 12 is right?" He asked as she was dusting herself off.

"...No I don't sempai." Yume looked at him giving him a pointed stare because she didn't know where that was.

"Heh, ok well, meet us by the academy entrance by six, we'll show you the way." Shisui smiled.

"Okay...Thanks Shisui-kun, Itachi-kun. I have to leave now. Bye Shisui-kun. Itachi-kun." She said as she bowed gratefully at them, not knowing she had unconsciously added -kun and not -san after Itachi's name. Itachi seemed kind of surprised as was Shisui but he kept on smiling. "No problem. Bye Yume-chan!" He said waving as Yume began walking away, and nudged at Itachi to say goodbye as well.

"Good-bye Yume-san."He said out loud a bit embarrassed for saying it louder than he intended. Shisui snickered at that. "Aww Itachi-chan's embarrassed!" Itachi gave Shisui a blank gaze.

"Don't call me that."

"But it's such a- hey! Don't start leaving without me and ignoring me!" Shisui called out as he turned to follow a retreating Itachi's back. All of them not knowing that Daitaro had been observing them, with an amused look in his eyes.

"Well...if they pass. They certainly will be an interesting team of genins to train."

**M: Yay! Finished with another chapter. It took me a while to even come up with all of this, I was kinda stuck on how it should go. I hope I didn't do a bad job at it. Anyways I hope ya'll enjoyed this chapter.**

**animagirl**: Hm..yeah when she meets him she will be reminded of them. Thanks for the idea of giving Yume a quirk bu Yume's quirk, is not actually that she will harm anyone who get her sweets. Hers is the fact she has a terrible sense of coming up with names. I kinda want to a quirk I don't see often in OCs. Also thanks for the idea of what she should say when stating her dream. I appreciate it! ^-^ Your reviews are helpful in giving me ideas for the plot. By the way, do you think it'd be wise to bring the Varia into the Naruto world too? If not maybe some of them? I've been debating on whether I should or not.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't own KHR or Naruto

Pass or Fail

The next morning, Yume found herself waking up at five. She had to forgo her habit of doing Yoga in the morning, and skip breakfast. She had gotten herself ready as quietly as she could before exiting the orphanage and heading towards the academy. As she was walking she quietly began to sing the Namimori Middle School Anthem.

"Midori tanabiku Namimori no…" She continued to sing all the way till she reached the academy and by that time she had stopped singing. She saw that by the entrance Itachi and Shisui were already there waiting.

"Good morning Yume-chan!" Shisui greeted her cheerfully. Itachi merely nodded at her and had his eyes closed. At that she raised her eyebrow in question. "Not a morning person eh?" She asked and Itachi shook his head.

"But one has to get used to it." He said as he opened his eyes and started walking to the left. Shisui grinned and followed after Itachi, not bothering to tease him unless he wanted to get beaten. They walked in silence as they passed many houses and training grounds. Each training ground had a sign stating Training Ground 1, 2 and so on. It took half an hour before they ended up at training Ground 12.

There they waited for half another half an hour with Itachi taking a short nap and Shisui watching Yume do her Yoga routine. As Yume was finishing Daitaro, appeared walking slowly towards them. "Seems you all were here earlier than the time specified. Good, at least you all are prompt." He said once he was a good five feet away. Itachi, Yume and Shisui then got into a line as they stared at him expectantly.

"Alright….for your final test. You have till midday to accomplish your goal. If you achieve it you pass, if not you all will be sent back to the academy if I so choose. If not you will no longer be part of the program to become a genin. " At this Yume paled slightly, she did not want to get kicked out of the program. 'I need to pass..I can't fail this. I can't.'

"Your objective will be locate and to land a scratch or hit on me. That is not to say you all won't be attacked back at all either. The first to do this by midday passes, while the other two fail. You have exactly five hours." He said as they all tensed. "You begin...now!" He then disappeared in a flurry of leaves.

Yume, Itachi, and Shisui jumped back and hid in nearby trees. All far enough to stay hidden and not show any obvious signs that they were there, and close enough to communicate. "So..the plan is to injure him in some way or form." Yume said quietly to them. Both Itachi and Shisui nodded.

"Yes..but you heard him only the first one to do so passes." Shisui said frowning. At that Yume shook her head. "No sempai, I believe that was used to pit each of us against each other. Think about it. No matter how skilled we may be, we are still only at genin level. If we were to attack him each of us by ourselves. It'd be practically impossible."

At this both Itachi frowned. "It makes sense...after all sensei had said that we would be placed in a three man squad being led by a Jonin and I've never seen a team of only one member unless they've been taken in as apprentices." Shisui nodded at what Itachi said.

"Yeah."

"First things first then. We need to designate a leader." Yume said as she then looked at Itachi and so did Shisui. Itachi ended up looking a bit uncomfortable. " I say Itachi-san should be the leader."

"I agree. Itachi-chan would be the best choice."

"I don't get a say in this do I?..."

"No."

"Nope."

"..."

"Itachi-san. You're the most suitable choice for this. I am not one to lead, despite me being capable of doing so, my leadership skills aren't the best in this group."

"She's right. You were the rookie of the year Itachi-chan. You're the most suitable to be the leader."

"...Fine." Itachi said after a while. "Then we need to locate him first. That will be tricky seeing as he could be anywhere."

"...Actually Itachi-san, It won't be much of a problem. Earlier, I got to sense and feel his chakra signature." Yume said as both boys puzzled on how to find him.

"Eh? You can do that Yume-chan?" Shisui asked kind of shocked. Being able to sense and identify different chakra signatures wasn't that uncommon, but it took a certain level of skill and practice to be able to do so.

Yume nodded. It's not that she was special, but it was due to the fact that chakra is a foreign energy that she is a bit more sensitive at feeling chakra. "Yes, but I can only sense it from a certain distance. We'd have to be close for me to be able to locate him."

"How close would you need to be to sense him?" Itachi asked seriously. Yume frowned and bit her lip thoughtfully. " ..I'd say at least twenty-five feet."

"Ok..the we need to come up with a strategy to get him…" They then began to plot, but moved from location due to the fact that staying in one spot was dangerous.

It took at least two hours to locate the Jonin, and boy was he tricky to find. 'Try being any harder why don't you.' Yume thought irritably as they all got into position. Shisui then rushed towards the location of the Jonin who was leaning behind a tree with his eyes closed. Shisui threw his ninja stars and some of his kunai, but before the hit the Jonin moved away quickly.

He seemingly disappeared only to reappear behind Shisui and aimed a kick towards his back. Shisui dodged the movement but only just barely.

Itachi then performed the Uchiha clan's Great fireball technique. " Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!" he then release a big fire ball from his mouth which seemingly caught the Jonin off guard.

However, that wasn't the case and he used the replacement technique and replaced himself with a rock. Yume thought he would do that and had thrown some of her kunai and throwing stars around her in the trees. One of the to her left was deflected. 'There!'

Both Itachi and Shisui had also heard the deflection of the kunai and aimed their own sets of kunai in that direction. This forced the Jonin to retreat to the ground. "Shisui he's behind two trees to your left!" Yume yelled as she sensed him.

Shisui headed towards that direction. However, she then felt her hands being gripped towards her back and the feel of metal pressed against her throat. She gritted her teeth. "Maa~ You all certainly are some tricky, mischievous children. Catching someone off guard like that." Daitaro said lazily as he pressed his kunai closer to her throat. She glared. Shisui then appeared behind Daitaro and aimed a kick towards his head.

Daitaro dodged and smirked lazily. "You have to try better than that kid." Yume smirked at that comment. A kunai then whipped passed her and she then felt a few drops of blood fall onto her cheek.

"You were saying sensei?"

"...Maa~ it seems i've been tricked." Daitaro then released Yume as he put his hand toward his cheek. "You've certainly planned this out well."

"Actually, sensei we didn't. We had to improvise the last part." Shisui said as Itachi appeared next to him. "Well..it doesn't matter seeing as only one of you will become my student while the other two will be sent back."

Itachi frowned. "You shouldn't lie Daitaro-sensei.. We know that the true objective was to work together in order to pass. If we had not accomplished that portion of the test, regardless if we had laid a hit on you or not, we'd have failed."

Daitaro gave Itachi a lazy gaze "...Smart brat. You are correct, however despite everything I was only going easy on you." They all nodded, expecting that was the case. If he had been going at full strength it's doubtful they would have succeeded in even landing a hit. "Now that you have all passed. Congratulations, on that feet. I expect you all to be here at the training grounds tomorrow at eight. Don't be late." He said as he then turned to Yume. "Yume-chan, you need to follow me."

At that Yume gave him a confused look but didn't say anything. Itachi then decided to speak before she followed their new sensei.. "Yume-san, my mother would like to know if you would attend dinner with us today?"

"Ah...She did?"

He nodded. "Yes. I didn't mention because it was only if we had passed the trial to become a genin and became an official squad."

"...Alright. I'll be there." 'I'll just need to inform Machiko-san that I won't be there for dinner then.'

"Dinner begins at six, please be there earlier." He said not wanting her to arrive late because of what his father might say if she were late.

"Quickly Yume, I want to be done with this as quickly as possible." Daitaro-sensei said as he started leaving.

"Yes sir." She said before saying later to both Itachi and Shisui.

Yume had been waiting outside the Hokage office room and was curious as to why she was called here for. 'I hope it won't take long. There are a lot of Jonin in there too...is it like a meeting or something?' She thought to herself as she looked down and reached into her ninja pouch. She had lost a lot of her weaponry and hadn't been able to pick any of them up. 'I'm going to have to replace them, and they were getting pretty dull too..' She then felt the surface of her Vongola rings and boxes. 'Everyone….' She closed her eyes and willed herself to not succumb into her sadness and loneliness. 'I won't give up. I won't...I swear I will find a way home. Somehow I will.'

She then heard the opening of the Hokage door and she opened her eyes. All of the Jonin that were inside were leaving. All except for Daitaro-sensei who motioned for her to enter.

She got up from the seat she was on and entered into a rather spacious room, with a desk, two chairs, shelves and more importantly, the Hokage who was sitting behind his desk.

Daitaro-sensei motioned for her to sit in one of the chairs in front of the Hokage's desk.

The Hokage smiled kindly at her and she noticed that he looked older than she remembered. His hair was completely gray and he was starting to get more wrinkles on his face. "Yume..is it alright if I call you Yume-chan?" He asked and she nodded. "Alright..Yume-chan I've called you to discuss your living conditions."

She gave him a confused look at that. "You can not stay at the Yuhi orphanage anymore." Her face went blank at that. "Do not worry, you won't be without a home. Merely, you will be moved to a small apartment. Your rent fee will be paid of course, as will the groceries for your first month there." At that she gave him a perplexed, contemplative look.

"...There are conditions aren't there?" She said after a while. After all, an offer like that is too good to be true, to be given for free.

He chuckled. "Yes there are. However, they aren't difficult conditions. All I want for you is to do is for you to take care of the groceries for your next door neighbor."

'That's it? That's all I have to do?'

As if hearing her thoughts he nodded, although it was probably inferred from the look of her face than anything. "Yes. That's all I need for you to do. Your neighbors circumstances are...unique. I do not trust that he would be taken care of correctly without problems. Unfortunately, I am not allowed to help him directly as that could lead to problems."

"That's why you want me to help then." She stated.

"Indeed."

"Alright then. I accept the terms. I'll take care of his groceries when needed, and other things if it is necessary."

He smiled, pleased that she accepted, although Daitaro-sensei didn't seem too pleased. He had remained silent throughout their exchange. "Thank you, Yume-chan. Tomorrow, after your training with your sensei he will escort you to your apartment."

She got up and bowed to him gratefully. "Thank you Hokage-sama."

She had told the news to Machiko that she would be leaving the orphanage tomorrow and that she was not going to be staying for dinner. She wasn't happy about it but had nodded stiffly as if accepting that she could do nothing anymore. That was a few hours ago and now she was headed toward the Uchiha district.

It wasn't difficult to arrive at the front gates of the Uchiha district. At the front she was going to be refused entrance until she mentioned that she had been invited to dinner by Itachi, and that she was to be expected at his home. They had looked at her doubtful but had her sign an entrance log sheet, and one of them had escorted her.

As he escorted her, she noted that the district was very big and that they had taken many lefts and rights. 'I could get lost if I'm not careful.' She also noted that many of the Uchiha's gave her condescending glances which made her sweatdrop. 'Better not get lost either. It's doubtful they'd help me leave if I asked.'

Finally, they had arrived at the biggest house in the district and her escort knocked on the door.

Itachi had been nervous, although he didn't let it show that he was, at the fact that a friend that wasn't Shisui was going to be at their home for dinner today. Thankfully, his little brother had been helping keep himself distracted by playing with him.

Sasuke was happy that his brother was playing with him, especially since sometimes he wasn't able to play with him because he was somewhere else, or was too busy. He hated when his older brother couldn't play with him. "Aniki! Look! Look! I drew this earlier!" He said excitedly as Sasuke showed him a drawing that he drew of the whole family earlier. Itachi smiled and looked at it. In truth it wouldn't win any awards but it did hold resemblance of what they were supposed to be. "That's nice Sasuke."

Sasuke beamed, happy for his brothers praise. They then heard the front door being opened and their mother exchanging words with someone from the clan. The words were then followed by a girls voice. This renewed Itachi's nervousness and got Sasuke curious. "Ne, aniki who do you think it is? Maybe it's one of those girls that always seem to want t talk with you."

Itachi smiled softly at Sasuke and poked his forehead. "Itai! Aniki!" Sasuke rubbed his forehead and Itachi chuckled.

"Let's go greet our guest otouto."

"Hai Aniki!"

Mikoto was a fair skinned lady, and she had long straight black with her bangs framing her cheeks. She also wore a dark blue blouse with a dark skirt and had a light yellow apron over her attire. Her appearance overall gave her a look of a kind, gentle mother. She smiled a lot and by the looks she gave her two sons she loved them deeply.

At that Yume looked at the floor hiding the pained look in her eyes. That was the same look her own mother would give her before she died, and the same look Sawada Nana would give Tsuna from time to time. She then looked up after having pushed the sadness to the back of her head. She saw that Itachi was looking at her concerned while his little brother was peeking at her shyly from behind him. Smiling she bowed to both of them. "Hello Itachi-san. Sasuke-san."

Sasuke's eyes had widened and he looked at her. "How do you know my name onee-chan?" He asked curiously as he peeked at her.

At that she looked at him amused. "From your brother of course. He talks about you at times you know."

"He does?!" He asked excitedly with a happy look in his eyes.

"Of course. He tells me how cute his little brother is, how you're doing sometimes, what things you've done. Things like that." She said amused as he practically puffed up his chest proudly. Itachi had merely given her an unamused look as his cheeks had turned a light shade of pink.

"Aniki! Is it true that you do that?" Sasuke turned to Itachi happily. Itachi could only nod, seeing as what she had said was true.

Mikoto throughout all this was smiling happily, glad that her son had such a nice teammate. It was also refreshing to see that the girl wasn't fangirling or trying to charm her son and was getting along with her youngest child.

'I'm glad that Itachi has such a level headed girl on his team. She doesn't seem the type to fawn over boys like most girls I see do to my little boys. Judging by the muscles she has, she trains too. She'll make a fine kunoichi when she's older.' She thought to herself as she chuckled at Itachi's embarrassed face.

"Yume-chan. Dinner will be done soon, would you please help me spread out the wares?" She asked testing to see what Yume would do. At that Yume nodded not having any look of reluctance to do so. "Alright ma'am." Yume then looked at Itachi and Sasuke and waved.

Dinner had been almost awkward seeing as Fugaku, a man with short black hair that reached to his shoulders and onyx-coloured eyes, with visible creases below them, and wore a simple grey kimono, asked her a lot of questions over dinner pertaining about her. what she does, what her goal in life is. etc. After his questions there was a lapse in silence as Mikoto, Itachi and Sasuke had just decided to listen and not interfere with his questioning. Soon dinner had finished and she had to leave.

"Do you have to leave now? We didn't even get to play." Sasuke pouted slightly when she had said that.

She smiled, her eyes holding both sadness and fondness. Throughout her stay he had reminded her so much of Lambo and Yamamoto. However, she knew that Sasuke wasn't them, that despite so many people reminding her of them. They weren't them. They weren't her family, She quickly hid her sadness before it became too apparent and replied to Sasuke's comment. "Yes, unfortunately I have to leave but next time we'll play alright?"

Sasuke tilted his head in thought and nodded. "You promise?"

"Yes. I promise."

"OK!" Itachi and his family had been observing her interactions and all were content with how she interacted during the whole evening. For Itachi, he was relieved that his parents and little brother approved of his teammate even if she was from outside the clan. He was also relieved that Sasuke had taken a liking to her. Mikoto was thrilled to have her son have someone other than Shisui to be a friend, and she was happy that she was a well mannered girl who didn't fangirl over her sons. It also pleased her that she had helped with the washing of the dishes. Fugaku too had positive thoughts of Yume, despite the fact that she wasn't an Uchiha. He would admit he preferred if Itachi had been placed in a team made up all of the Uchiha clan, but he could tell that she would not hinder the progress of Itachi.

Yume after having promised Sasuke a few times that she would return to play with him, turned towards the Uchiha patrons and bowed respectfully. "Thank you for having me over for dinner Mr. and Mrs. Uchiha."

"Your welcome Yume-chan. It was nice to meet Itachi-kuns teammate. We are glad to know that he has such a well mannered and productive girl on his team." Mikoto said kindly as Yume blushed slightly at that.

"Ah..it was no problem ma'am. Well...I will be leaving then." She again bowed. "Again, thank you for having me over for dinner."

"It's alright dear. Come back some other time alright?" Mikoto asked as Fugaku saw that Sasuke was falling asleep. "Oh, and Itachi please escort her to the gate entrance. I'm afraid your friend could get lost." Itachi nodded as he went over to Yume. Mikoto went and picked up Sasuke. "Be back, as soon as you're finished."

"Yes mother."

"Alright ma'am. Goodbye Mr. and Mrs. Uchiha. Bye Sasuke-kun." She waved as she and Itachi headed out the door.

As they walked on in silence Yume felt the painful reminder that despite the people she has met being kind in some way and being somewhat like family. They weren't her family, she was not anywhere near them. 'I want….to go home...I want to see Tsuna. Lambo, everyone...' She looked down with her bangs covering her face as she walked.

Itachi who had been walking comfortably next to her had noticed her shift in attitude. He sensed sadness, and pain but he didn't know what caused it. From time to time, he noticed that he, and Shisui caused that look in her eyes. He never said anything but he worried about the reason as to what caused it. He wished he could help her but the only thing he could do was try and get her out of those thoughts.

Lightly he grasped her shoulder and shook her shoulder. Slowly she turned to look at him and he gave her a concerned look. "Yume-san….Are you alright?"

For once Yume didn't force herself to smile and nodded. "...I will be eventually Itachi-kun. I just...need time." She smiled wanly before gazing up at the setting sun. He didn't say anything and both continued to walk in silence. Soon they reached the gate entrance and he stopped.

"Well..Goodbye for now Itachi-san. Till tomorrow." She said pleasantly even though her eyes still held sadness in them.

"Yes...Goodbye for now Yume-san.." Then without thinking he poked her forehead just like he would with Sasuke, She blinked as she registered his actions and smiled a small genuine smile. He then turned around and headed home.

'What an odd action...' She thought to herself slightly amused as she trekked her way back to the orphanage for the last time.

**M:** Longest chapter I've ever typed! I hope the fighting scene wasn't too terrible. Unfortunately I've never written any fighting scenes till now and I hope I didn't make it too bad. I feel as if it could have been better but overall yay! The story is progressing! Hope you all enjoyed this chapter.

**animagirl: **Good idea! I think I'll bring one of the Varia before him though..or maybe someone from the Vongola. As to how and why it will be explained when I end up reaching that chapter.

I've watched one episode of it, but I haven't come around to finish watching the other episodes but I will soon. And do you mean Kamui from Gintama?

By the way you were right Mikoto would want to meet her but I needed it to be set up so that she would invite her. After all, Mikoto has been a ninja before and assuming not much has changed she would wait till the after the final part of their test to become genin, to invite her so she could get to know her.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Katekyo Hitman Reborn!

The boy

Life as a genin wasn't too difficult and she had finally been able to receive money through the D-rank missions they took. Granted it was more like pocket money but the fact that she hardly spent any for the first month, made it possible for her to save a lot. They trained four times a week for at least six hours and the other three day's they did missions.

Those missions consisted of doing manual work, which were more like chores than anything but she could see the good things about them. For one they got experience on how to handle kids, cook, and garden when under disguises in an infiltration mission.

Now as her second month as a genin she began to note that the days were beginning to get shorter. 'It shall be fall soon it seems. Too bad there are no holidays that are just for fun in the village...I'm sure Lambo-kun would be excited to celebrate Halloween and to receive sweets.' She smiled bitterly as she noted that it would be a long time since she's had carefree fun with anyone. Sure, she had fun with Shisui and Itachi but there was always that small notion of getting better, of knowing you're being watched by older, more skilled ninja. Watching as you progress, and setting high expectations of you. She could hardly be as relaxed as she wanted to. Reaching down into her pocket of her new clothes she felt the surface of her box weapon. She longed to be able to use her flames, to be able to feel the comforting weight of her two handguns. 'If only….' Her train of thought was broken as she remembered she had to buy groceries again for her next door neighbor. Today was the first day off they had since becoming an official squad and she would have to buy groceries. As well as prepare some breakfast, lunches, and dinners for him.

Her neighbor being a small kid of around three years, just like Sasuke. He had blonde hair, whisker like marks on his tan cheeks and the bluest eyes she had ever seen. They reminded her so much of the sky when it was clear. However, in those eyes she saw pain, anger, sadness, loneliness and a deep longing. A longing for acceptance, for someone to care and love him like a family.

She never approached him however, despite the fact that his eyes held all those emotions. You see, she was afraid that by approaching him, she would begin to get attached to the child. She already noted that she was starting to become too attached to Shisui, Sasuke, and Itachi. She saw them as her only friends, and people she could consider family. Machiko was someone she respected and cared for too but she wasn't too close to her. The fact that those bonds were forming scared her, but she knew she could do nothing about it now without her changing her attitude and causing them to become suspicious that something was up. Not to mention the fact that it would disrupt the harmony, and synchronization during missions if she let her fear take over and cause her to shift her attitude.

Sighing, Yume got up from her seat on the old couch. Her apartment wasn't too large with a door leading to her bedroom, and one to the bathroom, and the other to kitchen and what could be considered the living room put together. In the kitchen it had the basic, if not slightly outdated, kitchen appliances. At least they had a working electrical fridge but she was used to much better and efficient technology when using a kitchen.

'Ah..I shouldn't be dallying. Better just go do the shopping.' She then looked at the old clock at the top of her entrance door and noted that it was already twelve. 'Well..shoot better hope not many people are at the shopping district.' She then went to her money savings that she kept under the couch and took a few hundred ryo bills.

Carrying all of those groceries she had bought, through a whole crowd of people wasn't fun at all. She kept bumping into people here and there and she expected she had a few new bruises, coupled with the ones she got during training. It annoyed her, her old bruises now had new bruises over them. "Stupid crowds. Maybe that's why Hibari hates them.." She grumbled to herself as she hauled the bags over the stairs she needed to climb to get into her apartment door. Then remembering how strong Hibari is, and how he scared them off made her grimace. 'Then again..maybe that's not it.' Once she got to her apartment door she opened it and began to unpack all of her grocery bags making sure to put the ones for her neighbor in a separate area.

'Now….to deal with my worst enemy.' She glared as she stared at the cupboards over her sink to store her groceries.

* * *

She had finally finished putting away all of her groceries and making some bento's for her neighbor. She now headed to go put the kid's groceries into his apartment along with putting the bento's in the fridge. As she exited her apartment and headed toward her neighbor's, she stopped. In front of her was her neighbor who looked quite beat up. She doubted much force was used on the child, but it was definitely enough to harm him. He had a few cuts and scrapes along his face and arms and a few bruises. She doubted that was from fighting against another boy his age. 'Honestly...' She then noted that the boy was giving her a wary glare.

"..." Sighing she went towards the boy and opened his apartment. She then set down the groceries and bento as the boy merely continue to glare at her and gave her a wary look as she approached him again. "Kid..I'm not going to hurt you.." She said softly and calmly.

The boy didn't say anything and continued to give her that same look. She rubbed the back of her head. 'Geez...his stare reminds me of Ken...' She thought as she noted that the gaze was similar to a hurt and wary animal. "I'm not going to hurt you.." She repeated again as she approached the boy. He retreated, glaring at her more. "..." She then took off her pouch and against her better judgement and cautiousness she disarmed the rest of herself. "See...I'm weaponless...and if it appears I will do something you may hit me." She said hoping to coax him into trusting her that she won't hurt him and to let her near him.

The boy stared at her for a moment, not quite glaring anymore but still held his cautious gaze. However, he let her approach him, as she again went towards him. She picked him up firmly, but also carefully, as to not aggravate any of his wounds. "She then went towards her own apartment door and seated the boy on her couch. Not wanting to scare the boy she left the door open as she went towards her kitchen. She opened the cabinet under it, and took out the small medical kit she had bought and resupplied, as she knew would get injured quite a lot in training.

* * *

The boy, Uzumaki Naruto, had been watching warily at the strange girl who had carried him to the apartment next door. Jiji had told him that he would be moved out of the orphanage and that he would be living by himself now. His food and other things would be taken care of by his next door neighbor. He didn't offer anymore and had taken him to Ichiraku's Ramen, where he ate at least three bowls.

He thought she was strange, because when she looked at him, she didn't glare at him, give him wary looks or even any negative emotion. She did give him a blank look of recognition but she hadn't said anything bad and even offered to help him. She even took off her weapons to show she meant no harm.

His eyes followed the girl as she went toward the cupboard and took out a small white box with a red cross on it. As she approached he didn't stop watching her warily. He then tensed when she opened the box and saw the needles. However, he relaxed slightly when she didn't reach for the needles but rather some sticks, some cotton and a clear liquid in a bottle. "Now this may sting a little but it won't hurt you too much." She said and he tensed as the liquid dabbed cotton neared his face. He held back a yelp as he felt the sting and coolness of the liquid hit a cut on his cheek. He gritted his teeth, not wanting to yell out, as she continued to do the same thing to his other cuts and scrapes. When finished he now had a few bandages over his face, arms, and legs.

"Alright..I'm done. You can leave now kid." He bolted out of there, not even bothering to say thank you.

"...well you certainly aren't grateful." She muttered as she went to retrieve her things from the boys apartment. She noted that he hadn't gone in. She shrugged. 'Ah well..it's not my business to know where he is. All I have to do is take care of him.' She then returned to her apartment and prepared her own lunch.

* * *

It wasn't till a few days later that she found out where the boy had gone to. After training she had been called by some ninja that the Hokage wanted to talk with her. Itachi and Shisui had looked at her curiously but she had shrugged because she honestly didn't know what he wanted.

When she entered the Hokage's office she found out why. There in one of the seats was the boy, and the Hokage looking at her. The boys wounds had healed quickly she saw, as his face was unblemished without any trace of it ever being injured.

"Yume-chan, I'm glad you've arrived." He smiled kindly at her, and she nodded. "Please take a seat." She did as she was told and looked at the Hokage quietly. "I was told by Naruto a few days ago that you helped him."

She nodded not exactly knowing at what he was going with this.

* * *

"I'm glad. Not many would actually want to help Naruto it seems." He said frowning to himself as he remembered how Naruto had burst into his office a few days ago and had been telling him how he got injured and how the strange girl had helped him. He had interpreted as to who the girl was by Naruto's description of her. A thin, long brown haired girl, who hadn't looked at him angrily and had done something to him that made his cuts hurt and then put bandages on him. When he had asked him what the girl's name was and who had attacked him he had rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. He hadn't bothered to ask for the girl's name, and she hadn't bothered to ask him either. However he did tell him, that it was some few civilians who he didn't even know that had pushed him and done a few things to him when he had gone to one of the stores in hopes of buying something.

At that he had frowned angrily but didn't push to ask Naruto any farther. He had hoped that the people would look past what had happened and not blame Naruto but it seems he could do nothing. Sighing, he looked back at the small, brown haired girl. Yume, as he recalled, a prodigy alongside Itachi, however she was an orphan. The sadness, despite being well hidden, was evident, however despite all of that she didn't let it hinder her. He knew though, that if she didn't overcome it and get it off her chest it would eat at her.

The past few days he had been thinking of what he could do to help both the girl and Naruto. He didn't come up with something until yesterday. He would have the girl be Naruto's caregiver of sorts, and Naruto once he had warmed up to her would help her. Naruto had a very cheerful personality despite, the fact his anger came to the surface a lot but that anger had been receding and now determination had become to appear in his eyes. He remembered amused at how Naruto had declared to him that he would become Hokage.

Looking at both of the children in front of him he smiled, and nodded mentally to himself. 'These two can help each other.'

* * *

The Hokage had been quiet for a while and both Naruto and Yume had become a little uncomfortable, more so Naruto than she was herself. 'He's going to propose something isn't he?' She thought to herself as she saw a calculative gleam appear in the Hokage's eye.

The Hokage then spoke. "Yume-chan, I'll get straight to the point. You're a smart girl so I do not need to beat around the bush." At that she titled her head and narrowed her eyes slightly, trying to determine where he was going with that. "I'd like for you to become Naruto's caretaker of sorts."

She stared at him surprised while inside she was shaking her head. 'O dio mio! Please don't tell me you're serious! No, no, no! If I get attached to the kid how do you think this will affect him when I finally leave! Itachi, Shisui, and Sasuke will be hurt enough as it is. I don't need to hurt another person too!' She thought frantically as her panic began to show in her eyes.

Both the Hokage and Naruto sensed that but Naruto thought it was because she didn't like him and he stared at the ground glaring at it. The Hokage on the other hand figured it was because she was scared of getting close to others. Her sensei had noted that, and wrote in his reports that while she got along well with her teammates there was always this air hesitancy of getting close to them. 'It will definitely be helpful for both of them if she takes care of Naruto.'

"Please Yume-chan. You are the closest person living next to Naruto, and it'd be nice if he were around someone responsible to watch over him from time to time. He is an orphan like you."

She winced at that part. She had a feeling he knew that she had taken well care of the kids back in the Yuhi orphanage and that she had always been very responsible around them. She also thought he knew that despite her reluctance to get close to anyone, she was willing to help those if the need arose.

With some reluctance she nodded. "Okay...I'll take care of Naruto-san." She thought as she tried to hide the reluctance in her voice but she noticed that she didn't fool either of them as Naruto seemed to find that floor insulted him in some form by the glare he was giving it. The Hokage on the other hand had simply given her a tiny nod of approval.

* * *

As she and Naruto walked back towards their own apartments she saw that the boy kept on glaring and looking away from her. She sighed at that and rubbed the back of her head. She had to clear things up, it would appear the boy thought she didn't like him just like all the villagers didn't because of the way they glared at him and whispered things as they walked by.

She had picked up some words such as demon-child, he should disappear, abomination.

Closing her eyes she opened up her mouth to speak but Naruto had beaten her to that. He asked in an angry voice. "Why did you agree? It's obvious you don't like me or want to. You're just like everybody else!" He yelled the last part as she looked at him sadly. The way he spoke and the way his situation appeared was similar, but not the same to Enma's. "Why don't you just leave! I hate people like you! You're all nice one moment but when you see who I am you all start to hate me!" He then began to rant, and cry a little while trying to hold back his tears.

She let him rant on for a moment and when he had finished she spoke. "I do not hate you Naruto-san..there are reasons as to why I was reluctant to take care of you." She said simply as she looked up at the sky. "The reason being that I do not wish to get close to people...I get scared doing so." At that Naruto gave her a surprised look.

"But why? You have a chance of making friends! You don't get mean looks like me!" He asked angrily, not ever having heard that someone wouldn't want to make friends. She had a chance to and she was wasting it.

"That may be so….but…" She closed her eyes and Naruto saw that she like him, was holding back her pain. "...it is hard to explain why Naruto-san...However, I'm sure you'll make friends someday.. After all, even the most unlikely of people have friends and comrades." She said the last part when she remembered of Mukuro, Xanxus, Enma, and Tsuna. They had friends and comrades despite of how they were.

Naruto looked at her disbelieving but didn't yell at her angrily. She hadn't responded to him in anger and he sensed a lot of sadness from her. Maybe she didn't know what a big chance was missing by not making friends. She still had given him an answer and he could tell her answer was honest.

They had both walked the rest of the way to their apartment building in silence again. While Yume may still feel reluctant to take care of Naruto she would do her duty as caretaker of him despite the fact that he would also remind her of her family. She realized that many of the people she met had reminded her of them and the more she thought of that the more her heart ached. Honestly, she didn't know how long she could take before she broke down and realized that bitterly. She couldn't talk with anyone about this, about how they were all painful reminders of those dear to her.

Naruto, during the rest of the walk back had changed his view of her. True he still thought her weird, but at least he knew she didn't hate him. This brought him some happiness for there was one other person he knew, other than Jiji and the owner of Ichiraku Ramen and his daughter, that didn't hate him.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I have no ownership over Naruto and Katekyo Hitman Reborn.

A/N: A few edits have been done as of 4-6-15

C-Rank Surprise

Two months after she became Naruto's official caretaker she and her team which had been dubbed Squad 11, not a very original name, had been assigned there first C-Rank. There mission was to escort a caravan of merchants that had visited the village, to a halfway meeting point with there sister caravan. It wasn't a terribly exciting mission, but it would certainly pay more than the D-ranks they took. It would also be good seeing as taking Naruto out to eat at Ichiraku's Ramen, seemed to eat her money faster than she expected.

The kid had wormed his way into her heart, despite how much she had tried to not let him, and now she hung around the kid more. She had found to her surprise, that the child didn't even know how to read or write, so it had been up to her to begin teaching him. Unfortunately, the child was very hyperactive and refused to stay still most of the time during the times she tried to teach him. She knew he tried not to fidget and move around too much but it didn't work. However, she did at least manage to teach him to how to write his name, Konoha, and Hokage. Ironically, those were the only words he had even stayed still for.

The kid was also a nice, cheerful kid who seemed to love mischief. His eyes had begun to show a certain determination while his anger had begun to fade. She didn't know what prompted that change but didn't ask. If he had decided to change, and have a resolve, who was she to question him.

Naruto hadn't been the only kid she got closer to. Sasuke had also been worming himself into her heart more. His cheerful, and spoiled personality brought great amusement whenever she visited the Uchiha household. He was greatly attached to Itachi and had a great admiration toward him but she couldn't help but feel that the admiration could turn into jealousy. He was the brother of Itachi, who was a prodigy and he would be compared to his brother more and more. That wasn't a good thing at all, because it wasn't fair to compare one person to another, even if they were siblings. No one is the same, everyone will have their own strengths and weaknesses.

She had already said bye to Naruto, after making sure his home was clean, had washed his laundry, and he had enough bentos to last him a few days. It wouldn't last him the whole time she was gone but it would be enough so he wouldn't have to eat out all the time.

'That kid eats a lot. I hope the food lasts as it should..' She thought to herself as she walked towards the gate entrance where she was meeting her squad. As she neared she saw that Itachi, Shisui, and their sensei were already there. She was the last one to arrive but she knew she wasn't late. Simply, they had been there much earlier than meeting time their sensei had stated and she was at least a good fifteen minutes earlier than that.

Shisui greeted her cheerfully, as she approached them from behind. Lately, despite the fact that she had been trying very hard to push away her sadness it had begun to show. Although not by much, and she smiled at Shisui, a little less cheerful than she intended.

"Good morning Yume-chan."

"Good morning." She nodded in greeting to both him, Itachi, Daitaro-sensei and head of the caravan who had requested an escort. The head was a cheerful man, with a round figure, light brown hair, a beard and mustache and was somewhat short. He had greeted her back with a cheeriness, as he had finished discussing the mission details with their sensei.

Their sensei had merely greeted her lazily, but not too much seeing as he didn't want their mission requester to believe they were incapable of doing their mission due to his personality. Itachi had also greeted her but more with a nod than actual words.

"Alright, now that we are all here. It is time to debrief you of the mission objectives. Our prime objective is to escort Masaomi Arata-san towards the halfway point to their sister caravan group safely. That is to say we will protect the caravan as we go. However, it is unlikely we shall meet any enemy ninja. It is possible we shall meet some bandits but that too is unlikely. Regardless of that, it is expected that you are all alert and ready in case of an attack."

"Hai, sensei." They responded and stared at him seriously. All of them were excited to finally take a mission, they were getting tired of D-ranks with all the weeding, and babysitting.

"Good, it shall take a few days to get to the meeting spot so don't expect this mission to be over quickly. We are expected to help with any repairs if need be. This will both test your patience and knowledge when out in the field."

* * *

"Hai sensei."

Masaomi, had been watching the children through his cheerful brown eyes. "They certainly are well mannered and obedient children you have there. " He said as he rode on his black horse, towards the Jonin next to him,

"Yes, they certainly are but they can be a bit a handful to take care of at other times. Despite that, they work well with each other , and grasp the concepts given to them with ease. It's not too difficult to train them, but they certainly cause a ruckus over strange things at times."

"Oh?"

"Yes. Particularly, in the case of sweets."

"Ah." Amusement sparked in the man's eyes. "Yes, children are always particularly fond of sweets at their age. Despite being ninja, they are children after all."

"Yes. They are still children."

"Hm...however, the young boy and girl seem a bit too young to be ninja."

"Indeed they are, but they are prodigies, and have shown exceptional skill, and talent in the shinobi arts." Daitaro said answering all of the questions Masaomi asked. He answered these questions because despite the man's cheerful demeanor he would still have doubts about young children being their escorts. In this way, he ensure the man felt comfortable with having them as escorts, and as a result most of the other caravan members would be so as well.

During the time Daitaro had been talking with Masaomi Itachi who was in front had been observing their surroundings, and wasn't letting his guard down. He hated the notion of having to fight, but he was content with the fact that the mission was an escort one, and that it was unlikely they would have to engage in one. As he was doing this he saw that both Yume and Shisui were doing the same, with Yume in the middle and Shisui at the back.

When discussing they had agreed upon the line up, seeing as Shisui and Itachi were better at close range combat than Yume and that she specialised in that field. Even though, Itachi and Shisui were also good in that field, Yume so far, was better than them. As a result, that line up of who was where was decided.

* * *

During the days that it took to travel to the meeting point no incidents of bandits attacking occurred. Instead only a two broken wheels had the misfortune of happening, and they had helped fix them, there was also the incident when a bit of the merchandise would fall from some of the carts. They were picked up immediately and put back into a more confined and secure spot.

Overall, there wasn't much delay in their time to arrive at the meeting spot and when they had reached there they saw that the sister caravan was already set up there. At that point there mission ended, but Daitaro-sensei had told them that he had asked Masaomi-san if they would be able to stay the night and he had agreed.

They would be staying close to the camp and would be helping them set up the material necessary to make lunch. Itachi and Shisui were tasked with gathering the materials necessary to create a fire, while she was tasked with helping make dinner, which was some kind of stew.

She had been peeling some of the potatoes that were going to be used when she heard a piece of information that caught her attention.

'...boy found a few days ago. Such a small child and cute child but he aggravates the other children so much." A woman said as she talked with her companion.

"How did you find this child?"

"He was found by the side of the road wearing very tattered and ripped clothes with a very big hat in the same conditions of his clothes. He thankfully wasn't injure but we honestly don't know what to do with him now."

"Oh? Why not? I'm sure it wouldn't be such a bad thing to adopt him into the caravan."

"Well, yes but like I said he aggravates the other children too much. He also has aggravated some of the grown ups too. But the odd thing is he does it with such an emotionless and toneless face."

"Oh dear."

"Yes. I'm afraid that while we could fix that, it wouldn't be quick enough and he'll have angered the whole group by then. That is why we don't believe he can stay with us much longer. Some of us have been thinking of putting him in an orphanage in the next village we visit. Hopefully then, he can find a home. Poor child told us that he didn't have any parent's and he didn't know what happened to him."

"Poor thing.."

"Indeed.." She then went on continuing to say something but Yume had stopped listening at that point. In her mind there was only one child that fit that description the woman had talked about but even then there was a chance she was wrong. Right now she couldn't do anything since she had to finish. Quickly she peeled faster, not even bothering to be as careful as she was before. If this was who she thought it was, she didn't care of the consequences. There was someone from her world here.

Once done she bolted out of the tent where the food was being prepared and looked around desperately for teal colored hair. Shisui and Itachi had arrived back by this time and had seen Yume look around frantically, as if searching for something.

"Hey Yume-chan, lose something?" Shisui asked curiously as they approached her. She however, didn't respond to him and went off without even bothering to glance at them. This prompted for both Itachi and Shisui to glance at each other confused. Despite Yume's somewhat distant and detached attitude at times she never fully ignored them. The fact that Yume didn't even seem to recognize that Shisui was speaking to her surprised.

'Something must be wrong.' Both thought as they both nodded and went to put the materials they had collected where they were supposed to be before searching for Yume.

* * *

Yume had been searching for at least ten minutes before she found the person she was looking for. The person in question was a kid that looked around three with green colored hair and markings under his eyes, and was sitting by himself in the shade of the tree while the other children had been playing.

'Flan...Could it really be you Fran?' She thought as she looked at the boy disbelievingly. She took out her rings and boxes and held them tightly in her hand as she slowly approached the boy sensing her approach had looked at her with seemingly lack of emotion, but if one had looked closely they would have seen a slight widening of the eyes.

Nervously, she opened her mouth and asked. "Fran?...Is that you?"

"...Hai..Yume-nee…" He said as he looked at the objects in her hand as if for confirmation before taking out his Varia ring.

"Flan...oh god...Fran…" Her eyes teared up as she then went and hugged Fran tightly, She began to cry as she held him as if he were her lifeline.

* * *

Fran during this time hadn't bothered to do anything but was happy to have found the missing member of the Vongola. He had been very confused when he had found himself awake in a strange place. All he remembered before awaking was that he had made Sousuke-sempai and Bel- sempai very angry before his memory went blank. He had then noted that his hands seemed smaller than usual and that he was in very plain, ugly clothes. Not to mention the people he was around with were weird too, as if they had come out of some feudal era.

However, he had taken great joys out of annoying the kids that bothered him with questions and in his opinion given honest answers to the adults that didn't seem to like them. He didn't care though, as he saw it, he was only being honest.

Looking up at the face, even though it was much younger than he remembered, way too young like she was around his age group young, he saw that it was Yume-nee. She had taken care of him at times and hadn't been bother often by his rude remarks to her.

"Fran?...Is that you?" He had heard the disbelief in her voice.

"...Hai..Yume-nee…" He had said as he had also glanced at the objects in her hands to confirm his assumptions and then took out his own Varia ring, one that was designed to suit him, even if he wasn't officially the Varia Mist Guardian yet. He had then felt Yume hug him tightly, tightly enough that he could hardly breath.

"Fran...oh god...Fran…" He then felt her start crying as she continued to hug him tightly. Without emotion he said. "Yume-nee...I can't breath.." At that Yume didn't let him go but had loosened her hold on him. He then didn't bother to do anything to stop Yume from holding him. After all, she was one of the few people back home that had been able to tolerate him, and had been like an older sister figure to him.

* * *

This was the scene Itachi and Shisui had come upon when they found Yume. She who they had never seen cry, was crying as she held onto a child they were sure they had never seen before. They were confused as to what they should do. As they continued to look at them unsure, they felt as if they were intruding on something private.

They were about to turn back when they saw their sensei approach. "Itachi-kun, Shisui-kun why were you guys going over here? You should know better and stay close in a group."

"We know sensei." Both responded as Daitaro then looked at Yume who was seemingly holding onto a random, unknown child and was crying. He raised his eyebrow at that, and frowned. "...Was she like that when you saw her?" He asked them as they looked at him hesitantly.

"Well...yes.. and no."Shisui answered.

At that Daitaro gave Shisui a look. Itachi then took over what Shisui left out. "What he meant sensei was that when we had seen her she appeared frantic. When we found her here we saw her like that."

"I see…." He said as he looked at the scene again. "...Go back to the camp. I'll be there soon." Both genin looked at each other unsure but nodded. They then headed back towards camp and as Daitaro saw not without hesitancy. He then turned and approached Yume and the kid.

**M: And that's the end of the chapter! :) Yay! I got to bring in Flan without too much of a hassle. This way there won't be too many questions if she is asked about him. Which she will be as you could see. Anyways hoped you like this chapter!**

**Funfact:originally, Flan wasn't supposed to appear yet but things turned out this way so I just stuck with it.**

**animagirl:** I see who you're talking about now and you're right his personality would fit in with the Varia. Also, I do plan on having her confide in Itachi and Shisui, I'm just not sure how or when exactly.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I don't own KHR or Naruto

Fran

The following day they departed, the caravan head of the one Fran had been with the last few days was glad to say goodbye to Fran. He didn't seem too upset when their sensei had gone to speak to him about them taking Fran out of his hands. However, soon Shisui, Itachi and their sensei had found themselves regretting taking in the kid with them.

"Oi. Weasel-san, shouldn't weasels be on the ground instead of the trees." Fran said in his usual manner. Itachi didn't say anything but that repeated comment had begun to annoy him. Shisui had found it funny until he also got the same treatment, as did their sensei. They were irritated with having the brat around.

"Yume-nee, why is a sloth your sensei? I thought sloths were too slow to be able to teach anyone." At that Yume smiled and patted Fran on his head as they continued to travel through the trees. They had learned how to climb trees while using chakra, as well as water walking a few days before taking the mission. This had helped them with applying chakra into their legs to help with their tree jumping. However, this didn't mean they didn't over calculate from time to time how much chakra and force they applied, and ended up missing a branch here and there.

Fran had been piggybacking on Yume, and she had taken the responsibility of taking care of him. Though the change wasn't too obvious it was apparent that Yume seemed a lot more happier than she had been feeling lately. They had also seen that she was very protective of the child. Itachi wanted to ask her about him, but thought better of it. It didn't seem like the right time to ask, especially since she had just introduced them yesterday and had given them a brief explanation of who he was.

Apparently, he was family to her, but the details were too complicated to explain, even for her. He sensed that she wasn't telling the whole truth, just as she didn't tell the whole truth to them about a lot of things pertaining about her. She was kind and friendly to them, yes, but there was also this feeling of reluctance to become close to them. He knew that if he confronted her now, she would not give him an answer, so like many other times, he didn't ask her. 'Yume-san...why do you keep us from getting closer to you...'

"Oi. Weasel-kun." Itachi's eye uncharacteristically twitched. 'On a more important matter, how much longer do we have to spend around that kid. Suffice to say, the arrival back to the village couldn't come any sooner to all three males of Squad 11.

* * *

When the Hokage had expected Squad 11 to arrive back, he had expected them to have achieved their mission without fail. He however, didn't expect for them to return with a new addition. He saw that it was a child of about three, perhaps older, if he was just simply small for his age. The child in question, he noticed stuck quite close to the only female of the Squad and that she had a protective air around her. He had a feeling that if he tried to separate them, even though he could do this without much problem, that it would not end in a peaceful way. Her time around Naruto had helped her a little but not much, and he noted that she had been able to help Naruto in small ways, even if she didn't realize that.

He looked at the child and noticed that he stared at him without much emotion, however he sensed mischief, and something else in those childlike eyes.

"Daitaro-san, I didn't expect for you all to come back with an extra person." He said humorously as Daitaro came forward and handed in the completed mission scroll.

"Yes." Daitaro, had said in a strained voice. "It certainly was unexpected." He said, recalling when he had spoken with Yume after Itachi and Shisui had left.

* * *

Yume looked up as she sensed her sensei approach her and Fran. She immediately wiped her eyes and held Fran close to her. She wouldn't let herself be separated from him. No matter what, she would not and would even resort to escaping if it meant she could stay with Fran. She knew she'd be leaving a lot behind but that wouldn't matter at the moment. She finally had someone from her home, and she was not going to lose him. Fran had merely taken to watch her sensei approach, not saying a word.

"Yume." Her sensei began to speak as he stopped in front of them. "Is everything alright?" He asked as he looked at her tear stained face. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying, and he knew she hardly cried. No matter how many times she got hurt during training, or was snubbed by others because of her personality. She came close to at times, but that was during when her eyes held a glazed, sad look in them. However, at the moment he noted that they didn't hold any sadness, but rather held a determined, defiant glance as she held onto the unknown, green haired child with markings under his eyes. The child just merely stared at him calmly, not even bothering to be scared or freaked that his student, who he thought had never seen that child before.

"Hai, sensei. I'm fine."

"That's good...It wouldn't be nice if you were hurt in any way." She nodded but didn't release her hold on Fran.

"...Yume, you know the child?" At that she nodded.

"Yes...he is family."

"Ah?" He asked as he looked dubiously between both her and the child, with a lazy look in his eyes.

"Yes...Not related by blood but family nonetheless."

"And how can you be sure he is family?" She then pointed to a ring held in the boys hand. It had inscribed the numbers 666 on it.

"That ring...the markings under his eys and his hair color. I remember Fran as a small child." She said not expanding on everything without, adding a lie. While she had no doubt she could lie to a civilian, it was doubtful she could bypass a lie through a Jonin.

"I see…" He then sighed, knowing that with or without his consent the child would come with them or there would be consequences he wouldn't like to face. "...Just come back towards camp Yume and don't go off by yourself. We're a team, and we are to work as such." He said scoldingly. "Also, the child will be your responsibility not mine."

"Hai, sensei."

* * *

Her eyes had then shown happiness and gratefulness to him, while the child hadn't even bothered to talk. Now that he was back to the village, he had wished the child had remained that way. Looking back towards the Hokage he elaborated. "It would appear the child is related to Yume-chan. However, she has told me that they are not related by blood, but she recognizes him as family because of the ring he owns, the hair color and the markings under his eyes." He said.

"Hm...I see." The Hokage said as he looked at Yume as she stared at him defiantly. He wasn't surprised due to the fact that she had an air about her that screamed protectiveness. Not exactly subtle, but he now understood why she seemed protective. "Then you shall have to take him to register for citizenship. I'm afraid that shall take a while, so it would appear you will have to take care of him Yume-chan." He said as he looked at her.

"Hai, Hokage-sama." Yume said as she bowed. Fran tilted his head as he heard the word Hokage. "Why are you called fire shadow, old man? You're not on fire, and you are not a shadow." He asked.

Everyone in the room sweatdropped at his question. However, Yume responded to Fran's question. "It is a title Fran-kun."

"So does that mean he turns into a shadow that's on fire?"

"No, it's a title given to the village leader."

"Oh." He had spoken all in his usually calm manner, even if his question could have been considered childlike and normal.

Yume smiled and patted Fran on his head and noted that his eyes had begun to droop. She then turned to the Hokage and her sensei. "Sensei, Hokage-sama, may we be excused? I'm afraid Fran-kun needs a nap." She then looked back at Fran who was trying to keep his eyes awake while standing up.

The Hokage chuckled at that, knowing that children his age got like that at times. "Of course, you all may go now."

* * *

It had been morning when they had arrived back, and she knew Naruto would probably be out doing some sort of prank at this time. He had begun to prank people a few weeks ago, and she didn't bother to stop him. It brought the child amusement and it was a good way for him to burn off energy. She also knew that he would not be back till around four, and by then she would begin making dinner for Naruto, Fran and herself, and Naruto never knocked on her door to come over. So it was a surprise to her when she heard a knock on her door at around three in the afternoon. By now Fran had woken up from his nap and was roaming around her small apartment, often making remarks on how shabby and ugly certain things looked.

She chuckled as she recalled that. It wasn't something to get upset over if she knew it was true. So as Fran kept remarking over certain things she went to open her door.

"Yo! Yume-chan!" Shisui said as she stared at him unamused from her doorway. "Heheh, don't worry I'm not going to stay here for long, but Mikoto-sama wished for me to invite you over for dinner."

At that she frowned slightly to herself. 'Well that's not a problem but..' "I'm afraid I may not be able to go Shisui-sempai. If you have not noticed I have to take care of Fran-kun, as well as my other charge."

"Eh, no worries. Mikoto-sama won't mind. She also told me that it was alright for you to bring your charges with you. She said she wanted to know of the children you were taking care of and hope they became friends with Sasuke." He said cheerily, although his smile faltered a little as he looked at Fran who had appeared next to her.

"...Alright. I accept her invitation for dinner. It shall be at six, correct?"

"Yep."

"Okay, thank you for letting me know Shisui-kun." She said with a small smile as she waved by at Shisui. She then closed the door in his face, just because it was amusing to hear what he would say next.

"Hey! How dare you close the door on me!" He yelled in a sulky tone. She laughed, and shook her head in amusement as she looked at Fran. She then noticed that he was wearing rather plain, earth colored tones that didn't suit him at all. She would have to take him shopping soon but first, "Fran, we need to talk about a few things."

Fran at that had looked at her expectantly. "Okay Yume-nee."

"Fran...what happened while I was gone?" She asked nervously as she sat on her couch with Fran doing the same.

"Ah...Shishou and the Vongola guardians have been trying to find a way to locate you Yume-nee."

"Eh? Even Mukuro?"

"Hai, although I think it was more to pay back the favor of taking care of me, when he got mad at me a lot."

She sweatdropped. 'Of course. He and Hibari don't like to be indebted with people.' "So they have been looking for me.." She said quietly to herself. Happy to know that she wasn't forgotten and that they were trying to get her back.

"Hai...but Yume-nee has been gone for only about three months, so I'm not sure how you could be so used to all of this place Yume-nee." At that Yume tensed.

"Ah...about three months you say?"

"Hai."

"...Fran...I haven't been here for three months..I've been here for about three years…" She said quietly as she realised why it was taking so long for them to come for her. There was a time difference between both worlds.

"Eh?" Fran froze and realized what that meant. "So...what Yume-nee is getting to, is that we'll be here for a much longer time than we think because one month back home equals to one month here?"

"...Yes Fran. It would appear that is the case."

"...Yatta." Fran said in his usual tone. "I get to be away from Bel-sempai longer now. I wonder...how should I celebrate my vacation from that stupid prince."

"...Pfft." Yume began to laugh at that comment. It had been so long since she had heard Fran say comments like that, and she realised that she had missed them a lot.

"Yume-nee, are you ok? Haven't lost your marbles have you?" Fran asked as he watched Yume hold her stomach as she continued to laugh. Yume smiled, as her laughter began to die out. "Ye-Yes Fran..I'm heh, I'm fine." She grinned as she hugged him. "I've just missed hearing your comments."

"Yume-nee you're weird."

"Heh, I know." She smiled as she then went to her savings. "Anyways, Fran-kun, we've been invited to dinner. I think we need to buy you some new clothes before we go there. That color doesn't suit you at all."

"It's an ugly color."

"Indeed." She said amused. She also recalled that she her other charge was also in need of new clothes. "Okay, Fran. Let's go. We're going to have to pick someone up before we head out to dinner with the Uchiha's though."

"Ah, Who Yume-nee?"

She merely smiled at Fran and shook her head. "You'll see soon enough Fran-kun." She said in an amused tone, as she thought of Naruto meeting Fran.

"Eh. Okay."

**M:Yay! I finished another chapter! Hope you all enjoyed it**

**animagirl:** Yes it was Fran. I love the little guy. As you can tell, her behavior has change but it won't be too drastic around Itachi and Shisui. After all, people have many faces to show around different people, and it will take time for her to fully open up to Itachi and Shisui.


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I don't own KHR or Naruto.

The Best of Friends

" Oi. Whiskers-chibi," Fran said as they had finished shopping for clothes. They had found Fran a similar outfit to his Varia one, except it was all black, and instead of buttons used a zipper. Fran also now wore ninja sandal, and had a larger than normal newspaper boy type of hat, but it was still smaller than the caps he used to wear. "Shouldn't you be wearing the clothes Yume-nee bought you?"

They were back at her apartment with an hour to spare to prepare for their dinner with the Uchiha's. Fran had already changed, Yume had decided to keep wearing her usual ninja attire, which consisted of a long, sleeved black shirt, her fitted grey pants, her headband, ninja sandals and her storage pouch, and only Naruto was left. Yume merely looked at Naruto unamused as he continued to pout. "Why? It's not like they'll like me anyways. It's better if I just don't go."

"You don't know that Naruto-kun."

"It's true! And more importantly who's he? AND STOP CALLING ME WHISKERS-CHIBI!" He yelled the last part angrily at Fran.

"Eh, Okay Fishcake."

"Hey! You want to start something? Dattebayo!" Naruto was prepared to fight Fran. Fran shook his head and hands,while maintaining his usually calm face.

"No, but that's what you're name means. So you're dubbed Fishcake."

"Why you-"

"That's enough Naruto. Don't take what Fran is saying to heart. He does that to everybody he meets, even me." She said calmly, trying to soothe Naruto down.

"But!"

"No buts, now get in the new clothes I bought you." She said referring to the dark blue shirt she had bought him, and black shorts. Naruto pouted.

"It's not even orange." He grumbled out.

"You need more clothes than the white shirt, blue pants, and your orange colored clothing." She said as she rubbed her forehead. "Stop being stubborn please. We were invited to dinner, and I'm sure Mikoto-sama would not be so rude as to turn you away...She is not that type of person. Trust me please."

Naruto was quiet for a moment. "...Okay! But can I call you Yume-nee too?" He asked hopefully. She looked at him surprised and was quiet for a moment. At her silence Naruto deflated, and looked at the floor. She soon noticed that and answered.

"Yes you may call me that, I do not mind Naruto-kun. You just merely surprised me." At that he looked up quickly and perked up. "Okay! I'll be back quick!" He then went to her restroom to change. Fran then looked up at Yume.

"Yume-nee...we have a Fishcake for a brother now?"

Yume sweatdropped. "If you wish to see him as your brother, then yes."

"Okay. I'm the oldest then."

"Somehow, I don't think Naruto will agree."

"Fishcake will have to deal with it."

* * *

"Fishcake, stay still. It's not like those people can hurt us."

"But their glares…"

"Yume-nee can take care of them. Right Yume-nee?" Fran looked at Yume. She shook her head at that.

"I can't Fran. These people are much stronger than me currently, and not to mention they have the backing of their clan, while I don't have one. They tolerate me at best but that's it."

"Eh? Why does it matter that they are part of a clan?"

"It's similar to being part of a family Fran."

"Oh. So if you hurt one, you can offset the others into becoming your enemy."

"Yes. However, they're not all bad, some of the elders can be quite nice after getting to know them." During their conversation Naruto had observed that Yume seemed more relaxed and talkative than when she was with him. That hurt but at the same time she was acting more the same with him. She had explained that Fran was family and he couldn't help but feel jealous of Fran, until Fran said he was the older brother of the two. At that Naruto, got upset and would have started an argument if Yume hadn't patted his head in order to calm him down.

To this moment, Naruto still felt upset at Fran for declaring he was the oldest. Fran merely kept his calm expression when he said. "Fishcake, we're here." At that Naruto came out of his thoughts and looked in front of him and saw that they were in a rather large home. Naruto shifted nervously on his feet, and Yume put a hand on his shoulder in a manner to reassure him. Naruto looked up and saw that Yume was giving him a small smile. Naruto knew that in this manner Yume reassured him, because that's how she always did for him.

"It'll be alright." She said before knocking on the door. It took what seemed like forever for Naruto before, the door opened and a woman, with long black hair greeted them.

"Good evening, Yume-chan. It's so wonderful you came. Itachi, Shisui, and Sasuke are in the garden right now." She said smiling.

"Good evening Mikoto-sama." She said bowing as she nudged Fran and Naruto to do the same. She had told Fran earlier to not discuss anything about the Vongola, their flames, as well as to not use his powers and insult the Uchihas. Things could end up bad if he did. Mainly because they could take custody of Fran, and take him for his powers. It also would make him enemies of the Uchihas, which is not something anyone wants.

Fran and Naruto bowed and said in unison. "Good evening, Uchiha-sama." Mikoto at that looked at them and smiled at Fran and her face paled slightly and froze in place when she saw Naruto. However, she quickly regained her composure, and with a slightly strained smile, which Naruto picked up as did Yume. Yume frowned slightly, as she looked at Mikoto, but didn't sense any animosity towards Naruto from her. 'It must be something else then...Unlike the villagers, she doesn't seem to harbor any malice to Naruto-kun. So there must be a reason why she reacted that way…"

"Good evening children." Mikoto responded in a kind tone. "It is a pleasure to meet you. I've heard about you from what Shisui-kun and Itachi have heard Yume-chan say." At that Yume blushed a bit. 'Yeesh, mentioning stuff to Itachi-san and Shisui-sempai isn't the best thing at times it seems.' She had not wanted that information known that at times she had mentioned about how Naruto was doing or how much that kid ate and emptied the amount of money she had. Much to her dismay, Shisui laughed at the fact that at times she had to work off the money that she didn't pay. Itachi only cracked a small but otherwise didn't tease her.

"Yume-nee has?" Naruto asked forgetting the fact that Mikoto seemed hesitant about him.

"Of course."

Turning to Yume he looked up at her excitedly. "Yume-nee what have you said about me dattebayo? "

Coughing slightly Yume looked at Mikoto and smiled. "As you've guessed, the blonde one is my first charge, Naruto, and my newest charge is Fran, my otouto." At that Fran waved, and Naruto smiled.

"Yes, of course. Itachi and Shisui-kun also had much to say about him." Was her amused response before she gestured for them to go in. "Dinner will be served in half an hour."

"Alright, thank you Mrs. Uchiha." Yume bowed again before leading them towards where her teammates and Sasuke were.

Once they neared them, they saw that Itachi was teaching Sasuke to throw some ninja stars while Shisui was watching. Yume hesitated, not knowing what to say, which was odd for her. Fran noticed but had tilted his head when he noticed Sasuke, particularly his hair. "..Duckbutt-chibi."

At that Yume coughed holding back a laugh. "Eh, that's an even weirder name than Fishcake dattebayo."

What was said, caught all three Uchihas attention, and looked at them. Yume smiled at that and hid her smirk, at Itachi's and Shisui's unpleased gaze at Fran. Sasuke looked at Naruto and Fran, questioningly."Yume-nee, who are they?"

"This is Naruto," She put her hand on top of Naruto's head lightly and then put her hand on Fran's. "and this is my otouto, Fran, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke scrutinized Fran before looking at Naruto. "Fran doesn't look like you Yume-nee. Also why did you bring him?" He pointed to Naruto. Naruto scowled at Sasuke and huffed.

"Of course he doesn't but he is still family, and Naruto is my charge Sasuke-kun be nice."

Sasuke then looked at all of them and got a gleam in his eyes. "Aniki, can we play ninja? We have enough people to." Itachi looked at both Shisui and Yume.

"Sure I'll play."

"I'm ok with playing Itachi-san." She then looked to see Naruto grinning. "I'll play ninja dattebayo!"

Fran stared at them. "Kinda weird for ninjas to be playing ninja. But I'll also play."

* * *

Dinner was an interesting event to say the least. Fugaku had an almost similar reaction towards Naruto's presence but hid it better. He wondered if the reason the jinchuuriki was his child's teammate charge, was only to remind him of that certain day. The day the whole damn village had begun to distrust and push the Uchiha away, becoming more wary of them. It wasn't their fault, they had nothing to with the release of the kyuubi and yet they were the ones that had been suspected of involvement.

He dared not glower or glare in the distance at the moment, his children and their friends were there and he dared not make dinner unpleasant. He noticed that the children had gotten along, or rather, as much as people with different personalities could. Looking at the green haired child, he couldn't help but be suspicious. The child held such a calm temperament and from what he had heard a very, very, interesting way with words to say the least.

The children at the moment had seemed to make a contest of who could get the attention of Yume,much to her discomfort, the most. Another thing he had noticed, was that there seemed something different about the girl, however he didn't know what.

"Yume-nee, tell Fishcake to leave me alone."

"My name's not Fishcake!"

"Can you also tell duckbutt-chibi to stop glaring at me."

"Aniki, I don't like him."

"Ahahah, the kid is hilarious when he doesn't start telling stuff to you, isn't he Itachi-chan?"

"Eh? Weasel-san is a girl? I thought Weasel-chan was a guy." At that Shisui started to laugh more, while trying not to laugh too loudly. Yume seemed amused, while two of the children were glaring at the third child. Itachi had merely given the green haired child an unamused look, and a slight glare to Shisui.  
Rubbing his forehead, Fugaku sighed, today's dinner was much different than he was used to. He felt Mikoto put a comforting hand on his arm and he looked at her smiling at him softly. "It'll be fine dear. They're enjoying themselves despite everything." He then looked back at the children and despite what he saw, there was indeed a level of happiness coming from all of the children. He closed his eyes, and inside he smiled to himself, if his children were happy, he would not interrupt them.

* * *

It had been a few days after that Yume had told both of her Uchiha teammates of what she thought of when all three children had met at the dinner.

"I believe that they'll make the best of friends."

Both Uchihas gave her doubtful looks. "Oh don't give me that look. If you look closely, despite how they act, there seems to be a sort of friendship forming between them."

"Uh huh, sure." Shisui said doubtfully while Itachi had a thoughtful look to his face. "Anyways, where is that brat anyways."

"Fran?"

"Yes."

"Oh, he's off playing with Naruto-kun somewhere."

"I thought the kid disliked Fran."

"Eh, he's realised by now that is just how Fran behaves most of the time."

"I don't believe you."

"He has, and it helps Naruto-kun not feel lonely."

"Why do you say that?"

"Naruto-kun….seems to be very much disliked by the villagers. I do not know the reason, nor does he. As a result, from the animosity towards him, the villagers children also dislike him."

"Oh."

What she had said about Naruto being disliked made Itachi and Shisui think of the time three years ago when all capable Uchiha ninja, and police members were away from the district. They didn't know what but there might be a connection.

"Yume-san, do you know when Naruto-kun's birthday is."

"Ah...no." Yume said as she looked away. Today was another day off that their sensei had given them, and for the moment they had decided to hang out. Shisui and Itachi had been mildly surprised that she had agreed to join them and had even seemed to be slightly more talkative than usual. It wasn't that they unwelcomed the change but they noticed that she had begun to change a bit ever since the child appeared.

"Ano...Yume-san?"

"Hm?"

"...Fran-kun...is he really that important to you?" She was caught off guard as she looked at Itachi. She then looked back in front of her towards the river in front of her.

"...Yes. He is, more than you'll ever know.."

"...You're family, are they dead Yume-san?" Yume tensed and she mulled over answering him. Finally she gave him a response.

"My parents yes, family no."

At that Shisui gave her a quizzical look. "I do not understand Yume-chan. How can your parents be dead but not your family? Do you mean like relatives?"

"No, they are dead as well." Her aunt and uncle had been killed two years before she had officially become the Vongola Snow guardian. It had been due to her error of not being careful enough and a paid hitman that didn't belong to a family, killed them. She mourned their deaths but Tsuna and everyone else, even Hibari and Mukuro although in their own way, had cheered her up. Knowing she had been silent for a while, and that they were still expecting her to elaborate she spoke again. "My family...does not consist of blood relatives. Being part of a family doesn't mean that you have to be related. Not to me anyways, my family...is the best." She smiled softly to herself.

"Then why did you say you were an orphan Yume-chan, if you have a family?"

"Because...I don't know where they are or if I'll ever see them again…" She closed her eyes. "But I have hope.." She had then remained quiet as did they, simply enjoying the relaxing afternoon. Both Uchihas felt as if they had gotten more insight to Yume's past.

**M:I'm finished! I got little Fran to meet Naruto and Sasuke. I hope I wrote him more or less in character. Also, Yume is finally starting to get used to Itachi and Shisui more. ^-^ I hope you all enjoyed it.**

**I appreciate all of the reviews given to this fanfic, and I'm taking into consideration your opinions, so now I'm torn between bringing another OC or not. However, there is still a till I have to decide bring in that OC or not. **

**animagirl: **Don't worry, I'm not going to bring any of the other KHR casts yet. There are factors that won't bring them in until time later. I'm still brainstorming over possible ways they could have been transported to the Naruto world. And you're right Yume does have to grow as a person, and let others in.


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Katekyo Hitman Reborn.

Holiday

Time had passed again, and now they were towards the end of December. Fran had already gotten his citizenship documents, which she kept with her own in a box hidden away. Right now she was looking outside the window of her apartment as snow fell towards the ground gently. Their sensei had decided they would have a few days off, to enjoy time with their family, as well as so he could get a break for himself.

She doubted he would actually be taking a break, they had only taken a couple of more C-ranks and a few D-ranks after their first C-rank mission. He had taken to training them more, his reason being that even though they wouldn't be participating in the Chunin exams this year, he hoped to prepare them for next year. The village's man power was still lower than they had hoped, and so was their strength. Having them participate, even though they were exceptionally skilled, was not wise.

She agreed with that notion, however she was not inclined to participate next years either. She knew that as a Chunin she would be able to take B-ranks, which involved assassination and spying. Of which she did not feel inclined in participating at all, even though becoming a Chunin fast would help her, it would also hinder her. Due to her age, if others from other villages found of her so called prodigy attributes they could seek to obtain or eliminate her. Neither appealed to her, and she would never be able to see her family again.

"Yume-nee?"

Turning she saw that Fran was looking at her with his usual expression but knew that he was wondering what was on her mind.

"I'm thinking of the Chunin Exams Fran-kun."

"Oh, that exam that will raise your rank?" She had explained many things to Fran when she had been able to, such as the system of the village, the politics, the villages, as well as the certain aspects of ninja life.

"Yes. I do not wish to take it anytime soon."

"Oh?"

"Yes, for one if I were to take it, I could be killed. Rendering my goal mute, and leaving you by yourself. Becoming a chunin would also mean I'd be able to take missions to infiltrate, spy, and assassinate targets requested in the mission. All of which, I don't like to do, nor am I especially adept at."

"Oh that's true. You're pretty useless compared to the Varia members who do those types of jobs."

"Yes, besides. Assassination and taking care of jobs like that was something you Varia specialised in. While we guardians, while not useless, worked to protect Tsuna, and took assignments from him. Or rather, work to protect him from enemies and from Mukuro's rather convincing attempts to possess his body." She muttered the last part as Mukuro still hadn't let up with possessing Tsuna's body but deep down she knew that Mukuro really wouldn't. It was just that he still tried to, just so it wouldn't seem like he hadn't changed a bit.

"Pineapple-shishou, does love to torture others doesn't he."

"Yep." She stretched her arms and looked at her Calendar and noticed that it was two days before Christmas eve. That is, if Christmas and Christmas eve did exist in this world, or even a New Year's eve celebration, of which neither existed here. Instead, what took place was the Rinne festival, in which was a time of prayer and where gifts were exchanged between loved ones. This also happened to be on the day when Christmas would have occurred. She sighed, at that fact. She missed the holidays from her world, and the time spent with everyone. She still remembered the last Christmas event, she had had with everyone.

* * *

**Flashback**

"Oi! You stupid cow! That wasn't meant for you!"

"Ne ne, calm down Bakadera. Lambo-san, was just taking what was his."

"Didn't you hear me earlier you stupid cow! It wasn't for you!" Gokudera yelled with his hands in fists. Lambo merely stuck his pinky in his ear and was turning it as he had bored expression on his face.

"I'm sorry, what were you saying."

"Why you!" Gokudera had kicked Lambo into the wall, which left an imprint upon impact. Lambo then fell back and had tears in his eyes as he tried to hold them back.

"Gotta...stay….calm.." He sniffled, and Yume sweatdropped as she did everyone else in the room, minus Mukuro of course who simply seemed amused and Hibari who was probably off somewhere close by but not close enough to feel crowded.

"Dame-Tsuna, you should learn to control your subordinates actions at times. Don't want your new home to be destroyed again would you?"

"It was your fault it was destroyed last time!" Tsuna yelled at Reborn frustrated and then froze as Reborn held a now gun-shaped changed Leon at Tsuna.

"What was that my pathetic student?"

"Er….That it was my fault for not controlling my guardians." Leon then shifted back into his chameleon form and Reborn grinned.

"That's what I thought."

Tsuna sweatdropped and went over to Lambo as well as scolded Gokudera a bit, to which Gokudera apologized profusely.

Yamamoto was merely laughing at that while Ryohei-kun seemed to be in a competition with Kusakabe over something she didn't know, and Shoichi, Spanner and Giannini seemed to be discussing something.

She smiled and shook her head, holding back her laugh at seeing Gokudera's reaction. She turned back towards Kyoko and Haru. Kyoko was wearing a high collared pink sweater, with blue pants, and Haru was wearing a Mrs. Santa Claus costume. Their hair had grown in length although, Haru was thinking of cutting hers.

"The boys sure are noisy ne?" She asked Kyoko and Haru.

"Yeah they sure are. It's almost like they haven't changed at all." Kyoko giggled as she saw her big brother yell excitedly.

"I know! But Tsuna-kun's changed, he seems more handsome and mature than before." Haru giggled as well as she looked at Tsuna. "He's so good with kids as well. Being so gentle and kind. Kyaa~ I hope that when we have kids he'll still be the same to them."

At that Yume smiled, smiling knowing at that comment. Haru's crush for Tsuna hadn't changed at all over the years, and her love for Tsuna seemed to have grown.

"He is good with kids. I wonder if he has any plans for them soon."

"I hope so."

She nodded and before she could ask a voice interrupted her.

"Sorry, we're late everyone!" She turned and saw as Dino walked in. He was wearing his usual coat with a furry collar, and was accompanied by Romario, Colonello, and Lal Mirch who had both finally gotten married after so many arguments and postponed wedding dates.

Colonello, who now looked around ten years old, went over to Reborn who had also now looked to be around ten greeted each other in their usual fashion. Aka, battling it out.

"GAAH! Reborn! We just finished repairing that wall!" Tsuna screamed as he ran his hands through his already messy hair. At that moment Bianchi stepped in with some of her special cooking.

"A-Aneki.." Gokudera then promptly fell, despite his efforts he still fell ill at times when he saw his sister. Sometimes, he could manage but unfortunately this wasn't one of those times.

"Ah, otouto are you ok?" Bianchi went towards Gokudera's side and looked at him concerned. Futa throughout all of this time had been playing with I-pin.

Yume laughed amused by what was happening. Even though they had changed a bit, they were still mostly the same.

"Kufufu~ My seems Tsunayoshi-kun hasn't changed at all." She turned to look a Mukuro who had appeared next to her along with Chrome. Mukuro was wearing his usual misty designed shirt, wore a thick black jacket, black trousers, and long black boots. Chrome was beginning to let her hair grow, and wore a purple long sleeved shirt, a light purple skirt with black leggings, replaced her skull designed eye patch with a star designed one and cute high heeled black boots. Chrome had changed, becoming more confident in herself, however, she still held a strong admiration towards Mukuro.

"Will boss, be ok?" Chrome wondered as she saw that Reborn had kicked Tsuna in the back for a reason she didn't know because she had been distracted.

"Erm...Maybe?" She responded as she then noticed that Ken was eating most of the meat from the food table. Chikusa was just being his usually emotionless self as he put food onto his plate, expertly avoiding any of the flying pieces of meat.

"Kufufu, you don't sound so sure, Yume-san." Mukuro smirked, while she gave him a deadpan look. However, before she could give him a response another voice interupted her.

"Oi. Pineapple-Shishou. We came too." And there was Fran along with the rest of the Varia.

"HIIEE! THE VARIA IS HERE TOO?!

"'Uh oh, this won't end well.'

**Flashback end**

* * *

And it hadn't, chaos had ensued after the Varia had appeared, and the newly remodeled house that Tsuna owned had been destroyed. Again. She chuckled to herself, despite everything she missed that, but at least. 'At least I have Fran.' She thought to herself as she looked at Fran who had decided to amuse himself with practicing on making illusions. It would seem his control on making illusions had been disrupted as a result of coming here. They could still use their flames but they would need to practice control again.

Right now, Fran appeared to be trying to make an illusion of a pineapple-hat, much to her amusement. She knew Fran knew, not to act that much more mature than his three year old self, but he didn't have too much trouble doing so. "Yume-nee look, I have the same hairstyle as shishou."

She laughed as the thought of how Mukuro would have reacted if he had heard that, appeared in her head. "Hah hah, Fran I don't believe Mukuro-san would like that."

"Eh, but I'm honoring his presence by adopting his hairstyle."

She grinned at that. "Then he should be honored properly by all of us wearing his hairstyle."

"Some people already started that Yume-nee. Last time when me and Fishcake were playing I saw a kid and his papa with a pineapple hairdo."

"Oh really now?"

"Uhhuh."

"How interesting, perhaps you should tell Mukuro-san his hairstyle is gaining in popularity."

"I should." Fran seemed pleased at that and looked outside. "It's really white outside."

"Yeah, I expect it will continue to snow for a few more days."

"Yume-nee will Fishcake be celebrating the Rinne Festival with us?" She nodded at his question.

"Yes."

"Oh, good. I already got his gift." At that she raised her eyebrow. "Yeah, it was that item I bought."

* * *

"What is this?" Naruto glared at Fran as he held a black cap, outlined with white and had eyes on it.

"It's a sleeping cap Fishcake."

"But what gave you the idea of getting me this?"

"Well you see, me and Yume-nee were out shopping and when I passed a certain store I saw it, and immediately thought. This shall make the perfect gift for Fishcake, so I went in bought it with the money Yume-nee gave me for a gift. So you see I bought it for you from the goodness of my heart." He said in his usual calm tone as he stared at Naruto calmly, not once bothered by Naruto's disbelieving gaze of it coming from the goodness of his heart.

Naruto then glared at Fran, and then looked at the gift Yume had given him. It was a rather thick coat, and was black. She even gave him some money that he could but into Gama-chan, the frog wallet the Hokage had given to him earlier today. Despite his reaction towards Fran's gift he felt a swell of happiness in his chest. This was the first time anyone other than Jiji, had given him something. He then frowned, because he hadn't given them anything.

Yume saw that and looked at him, her eyebrows furrowing with concern in her eyes. "Is something wrong Naruto-kun?" Naruto was quiet for a moment before looking up at her with worried and unhappy eyes.

"I'm happy Yume-nee, and green hair got me this gift but I don't have anything to give back." At that Yume hummed to herself and looked at Naruto with understanding.

"I see...then how about this. Seeing as there is no celebration concerning the coming of a New year. How about you help me and Fran do a few things together."

"Like what?"

"Well…" She looked at Fran who appeared to be focused on poking a pineapple with his chopsticks. "You can help me and Fran make food, play a few games and then you and Fran can go prank a few villagers if you wish."

Naruto thought to himself for a bit before nodding and grinning at Yume. "OKAY! I'll do it dattebayo!" He then tilted his head and looked at Yume with wonder. "Ne, Yume-nee you're weird."

She chuckled, having already heard that from Fran a lot. "Yes, I know."

"You've changed too."

"Yume-nee, I don't know about you changing, but what kind of guardian lets their charges play pranks on others. That's not being very responsible." Yume sweatdropped at Fran's comment but smiled. In truth it wasn't that she was entirely ok with them playing pranks on others but it was beginning to bug her that the villagers gave Naruto rather nasty stares. As far as she had been able to see, the kid never did anything to them and always had a hurt look in his eyes whenever they stared at him like that.

She wasn't sure how she should deal with that, she didn't want to get too involved with the kid, although she could tell it was already too late with that. The fact that she was starting to develop and even greater attachment to Naruto scared her, not to mention she had also begun to be more of herself with Itachi and Shisui had also begun to scare her.

Only Fran knew of this fact, but she knew she would have to deal with that fear later, if not soon. On the one hand she didn't want to hurt them by distancing herself from them. Naruto would be hurt and betrayed, and with Shisui and Itachi it would put a strain on their teamwork. She rubbed the back of her neck as she then saw Naruto get angry at Fran for some reason. She knew Fran would have no trouble with hanging around and leaving others, but she wasn't.

"Shut up you big head!" Naruto yelled at Fran as he pointed his finger at him.

"Well, it's not my fault you have terrible sense of fashion."

"I do not!"

Smiling grimly, she put her worry of what and how she would deal with her situation at some other time. Right now, during her short vacation she would not spoil the mood with her worries and instead focus on making things more comfortable.

**M:Another chapter finished. I had planned on having Itachi, Shisui and Sasuke in this chapter but it didn't turn out that way. Oh well, and as usual, hope you liked this chapter. **

**animagirl:** I was thinking of doing that but unfortunately I couldn't come up with a name. In the next chapter or two you'll see Sasuke do that. Well, hopefully if it turns out that way.

By the way, i've been thinking of bringing in Bel or Squalo, but I'm not too sure. They won't be brought in anytime soon of course, but still I can't help but thinking of bringing them in.


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer:I don't own KHR or Naruto

Decision

After that new year spent celebrating with Naruto and Fran she and her team had resumed their training. By this time she had learnt more on her teammates and they her and despite all else she had grown too attached to them even their sensei.

She had learned that Itachi had mastered his Sharingan a year or so after becoming a squad and that so had Shisui. During that time they had spent more time together outside of squad trainings, in which were relatively few compared to how much training, and missions they did.

A few good things that had come out was that she, Fran and Naruto had become slightly accepted by the Uchiha clan and they no longer gave them rather intimidating stares whenever they entered their district. Fran and Naruto had also become friends of Sasuke so at times, Mikoto offered to watch over them when they were training or they took a C-rank mission that would last a few days. She remembered amusedly one time when they had come back how Fran had been.

"Yume-nee! Thank god you're back! I don't believe I could stand being around duckbutt-chibi any longer." Fran said as he went over towards her.

"My names not Duckbutt-chibi, you overgrown hat emo!"

"Hey that's my name for him you duckbutt!"

"Shut it you whiskered Fishcake! He's the one who's been annoying me the whole time, leaving you alone."

"That's not true! Have you even heard what he's done to me when you leave! He pushes me into the pond!"

At that comment she looked at Fran with a raised brow. He gave her an innocent look. "I did no such thing Yume-nee." She rolled her eyes as she looked at Mikoto.

"I am grateful for you looking after them Mikoto-sama. I hope they weren't too much trouble."

"Not at all, it was a pleasure having them here to keep Sasuke company."Mikoto smiled at her, having already gotten used to Naruto and Fran being around the compound. Her shock and the hesitance she and her husband felt towards Naruto had slowly faded. He was now welcomed into the district, so long as he didn't play any pranks or mischievous deeds inside it. Outside he wasn't their problem but inside the Uchiha district he would be and they did not want the attitude of the villagers to change too much if he misbehaved and they allowed it in their homes.

She also noted that Sasuke, although he would never admit it, always anticipated when Naruto and Fran would come over. Despite his outright denials if asked, his actions proved otherwise. And although, Fran annoyed him with his use of words, they got along. That is after Sasuke, finished taking out his frustration out on him. Fran didn't seem bothered by it but did appear to let his frustrations on things around him. Although it was hard to tell from his expression.

"I'm glad then, I wouldn't like it if they caused you any trouble Mikoto-sama."

"Ah Weasel-chan, you're back too. You should take care of your Duckbutt brother." Yume held back a smile as Itachi gave Shisui, Naruto, Fran and her an unamused look. It was almost as if he knew that they were amused by this, well it was pretty obvious with Naruto and Shisui who were both laughing out loud. "Oi, bedhead you should really learn to comb your hair." Fran said to Shisui and hung tighter onto Yume. "Also, it stinks in here take a bath will you weasel-chan, bedhead-kun."

Coughing to hide her laughter she patted Fran on the head. She then took hold of his and Naruto's hands. "Come we should be going now. It'd be rude to intrude any longer." She then bowed.

"Again, thank you for watching over them Mikoto-sama and please give my regards to Fugaku-sama. Take care Shisui-kun, Itachi-kun, Sasuke-kun." Sasuke pouted as he waved at her goodbye.

"Bye Yume-nee!"

"See you at training tomorrow Yume-Chan!" Shisui said cheerfully despite his annoyance with Fran. "By the way Naruto, next time you're here I'll help you with planning some awesome pranks!" At that comment Itachi gave Shisui a disapproving look.

"Shisui, don't encourage them."

"What? It's not like they're injuring anyone."

"Hn.."

"Ehheh."

"Good bye Yume-san." Itachi said as she looked at them amused. He and Shisui had started to get used to her change in behavior and were happy that she seemed to open up to them more. Although, at times he could sense there was still hesitation in her actions towards all of them. There was also a feeling of restlessness coming off of her for very short amounts of time. At first he thought he had imagined it but that same feeling had come off of her more than once, so he knew that he was not imagining it.

She smiled at him, and he felt a sense of warmth spread through him. "Till tomorrow then."

She then turned around and left their home and as he looked up towards his mother she had a small knowing look in her face. He then felt a tug on his sleeve. "Aniki, play with me now."

"Now, now Sasuke. You're brother just came back from a mission. You should let him rest he must be tired." Itachi smiled slightly at his mother but shook his head. "It's fine mom. I'll play with you Sasuke." He said as he patted Sasuke on the head.

"I'll play too" Shisui said and Sasuke humphed at Shisui. "I don't feel like playing with you."

Shisui's jaw dropped before going to a corner to sulk saying loudly. "Why are all the kids so mean to me."

Yume hadn't gone too far and all three of them had heard what Shisui had said. However, they had ignored it. It was normal with them after all, he said that after Fran insulted him too many times.

She then sighed, as she stared at Shisui and Itachi sparring against each other. Lately she had been feeling more restless than usual. Their sensei had been pushing for them to train more ever since she had refused to participate in the Chunin exams the last few times. It also didn't help the exams were held bi-annually, and their sensei had been pretty upset that every time she refused. Her reasoning had been that as a nine year old, while they were pretty skilled she and Itachi would be targeted more if they participated too early.

Of course their sensei had said that, it would not matter and that it would better their ninja careers as well as show off the prowess of the ninja of Konoha. She had wanted to comment rather rudely at that. While she did not harbor any ill intentions towards the village she had no real care towards all of the village. Only those that she cared about, and had grown attached to. Despite all of her efforts, she had grown closer to her squad, Naruto and some of the Uchiha. She now referred to Shisui and Itachi as Shisui-kun and Itachi-kun. That of course had made her teammates happy and had pleased their sensei because he could see she had started to trust them more with knowledge about herself.

They had learned that her birthday was on May 6, although that was something their sensei had already known, she was pretty lenient with most things, she cooked food both familiar and sometimes unfamiliar to what they knew. Although, if asked about that food she never really gave them an answer but she smiled secretly.

The fact that she was acting like this scared her, and worried her. She knew it was dangerous to feel attached to everyone, because when she'd leave they would feel betrayed and if things came to it. They would have to fight against each other, and she didn't think she could actually kill them if she had to. Fighting against family, and friends with the intention of fully harming them wasn't something she was capable of. Perhaps Itachi and Shisui could but not her.

Looking back her eyes hardened. She would have to tell them soon of her intentions, that way they would not misinterpret her actions when she does leave. At least, in that way betrayal would not be felt too deeply by them. First though, she had also decided enough was enough with postponing the time for them to take the Chunin exam. She knew Shisui had begun to feel tired of just training, practicing on doing their elemental jutsu, a bunch of D-ranks and some C-ranks. He wanted to move on as she felt Itachi did too. Just not for the same reasons. His clan had begun putting too much expectations on him and wanted him to become Chunin already so they could gloat about the Uchiha's greatness. Not really in those exact words but the message was clear.

"Sensei?" She approached their sensei who had been monitoring the spar as she had taken a small break from her own chakra control training.

"Yes Yume-chan?"

"I've been thinking…..I want to take the Chunin exams this year." Daitaro looked at her surprised while continue of being aware of Shisui and Itachi's spar.

"You do realise that's only five months away, and the last one had only been a month ago in which you refused."

"Yes."

"What brought this on?"

"It's just….I think it's about time we take the exams. Also...it..it might help with all this restlessness I feel." 'It might also help me with finally figuring out a way to go home.' She didn't add that part as she stared at her sensei.

He was quiet for a moment before he smiled and looked back at the spar, in which Itachi was winning. "Well, at least there is no doubt you'll all pass."

"Yes."

"So you're saying we can finally take the exams?" Shisui asked excitedly as he looked at Daitaro.

"Yeah, Yume-chan finally agreed, although I'd have hoped she had decided this last month." At that she shrugged, she didn't believe they were ready then, and thought they were still too young.

"Yes! Finally!" Shisui jumped in the air while Itachi merely nodded and looked at Yume. He wondered what had brought on her change.

"Yes, yes. I'm glad you're excited Shisui, but the next exam won't be until five months. Until then I expect all of you to try even harder in training and to sharpen your skills. I wouldn't want my teaching methods to be critiqued if you don't pass and I've had at least three years to show nothing for it."

"Hai, sensei." They all said as Shisui then promptly glomped Yume. "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"Good, training is over for today."

"Get off Shisui-kun."

"But we can finally take part in the Chunin exams!" She deadpanned as Shisui held her close and lifted her off the ground. She wasn't amused because for one, he was a teenager and a lot taller than her, another thing was she didn't like to be reminded she was short.

Itachi just looked at them and shook his head. It was a while before Shisui finally put her down and as she turned towards Itachi she felt a poke on her forehead protector. She sighed as she looked at Itachi, she was only an inch or two taller than him but she knew he would eventually pass her in height.

"You two don't know anything about personal space."

"Of course we do, it's just we don't care about invading yours."

She humphed at that and looked away, noticing that their was no one anywhere near the river area they always came to after training was over. 'Maybe...I should tell them now?' She felt a wave of panic at that. What would she say? How would she say it? Would they take the news well?

As these questions went through her head her body had tensed and Itachi had noticed. Frowning, he gently put his hand on her shoulder. She looked up and looked at Itachi's questioning gaze. For some reason she had the urge to blush and had noticed that Itachi had begun to get tear troughs on his face, despite his young age.

She looked away and sighed, as she forced herself to relax. She had to come clean, she knew that but that prospect was scarier than she had first thought it would.

"Shisui-kun...Itachi-kun.."She began hesitantly and rubbed her arm with her hand. Why was this so much harder than she thought it'd be..

"Hm? What is it Yume-chan?"

"Ah...well…" God was this so difficult.

Itachi lightly put pressure on his hand. "It's ok Yume.."

She then took a deep breath and smiled gratefully at Itachi. 'He's right, it's ok. I'll just get this over with..'

"I….well...I guess I better explain some things. Um…" They gave her expectant looks as turned her gaze toward the river. "...Remember when I said my goal was to find my sky when we had to introduce ourselves to our sensei?"

"Ah, yeah. That's a pretty weird goal to have Yume-chan."

She chuckled at that comment but didn't move her gaze from the river. "Well….what I meant is that my goal is to find my family again."

"Well...that's not such a bad dream. Why didn't you just say so?" Itachi however, sensed there was more to that, than just finding her family.

"Shisui-kun...to find my family again would mean I would have to leave the village." Shisui didn't seem to get her meaning as she just looked at her confused while realization dawned on Itachi.

"...You'd leave the village….for good wouldn't you?"

Softly she replied."Yes...that's why I didn't want to get too close with all of you. I'm scared, I'm scared of hurting you, of getting hurt myself because it'd be like abandoning you. However, it's too late not to get close now. I've gotten too attached with all of you, you have all become important to me." While the news that they were important to her brought them happiness, they now understood why she had always seemed so reluctant to get closer with them.

It'd be easier to leave someplace if one didn't have any close bonds or attachments with others. The fact that they had gotten close with her, brought her to worry on the results of what would happen when she left. She had worried on how they would react, on how they would feel. It would also had meant that they, if it had come to it, would have to fight and possibly eliminate her.

"Well...you could just ask permission to leave can't you?"

"You don't get it..I...me and Fran might never come back when we leave." She said quietly, as she let her words sink in for Itachi and Shisui.

"..."

It was Shisui who broke the silence. "Then...we'll just have to enjoy the time we have together. When that time comes we'll worry on what to do with your leaving." He smiled as he hugged Yume. Yume squirmed uncomfortably at that. "Off Shisui-kun."

"Nope, didn't you hear me? We'll enjoy our time together, right Itachi?"

At that Itachi smiled and poked her on her forehead protector again while she was held in Shisui's grip. "Of course. No matter what happens, we'll enjoy the time we have right now. It also doesn't hurt to know that even if you leave you have no ill intentions towards anyone in the village."

She rolled her eyes but smiled gratefully to them and relaxed in Shisui's hug. They were ok, and they didn't hate her for the fact that she would leave someday. Her chest filled with warmth and as she looked back towards the river. She knew Shisui was right and they would not worry about what will happen until that time came. They would enjoy their time together, no matter what.


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Katekyo Hitman Reborn

Preparing

During the next few months they had taken to training more, as well as training on their own. Their sensei had given them some days on where they could train on their own while he went off on missions. She figured Itachi and Shisui would be honing their skills and their natural affinity to use fire release jutsus.

She on the other hand, was a different matter altogether. Her chakra natures were lightning and water, however there was a slight problem with that. Her own chakra reserves while well and far above average now, for someone her age, they weren't enough to support her way of using lightning base attacks for long. The only way that she could use her lightning based chakra was through swords or by releasing them through her body. None of which she knew how to do, and she suspected that if she were to use a sword or anytype of hand wielded weapon to it would require a specific type of metal, and it'd be expensive to get.

She could look for a teacher to train her but that would require finding Jonin, or any higher ranked ninja that had a lightning or water based nature. Both of which she doubted she could find and make them train her. Having them to train her would mean she would have to make them trust her with could train her. Going to the library to the library to find any jutsus or manipulation methods of the elements had helped some. However,even though they helped her in channeling the movements of the elements she didn't see any jutsus that were for lightning below a B-Rank. There were a few D to C ranked water jutsu she had learned but she would not be able to use them if their was no water source nearby. As for any that wouldn't require a source there was at least one and it was A-ranked. She doubted she would have been able to check that scroll out, given her rank, much less be able to learn it without some form of risk.

So the only option left, if there were near water sources, was to use her box weapons. However, she was hesitant on doing so. Guns as she could tell, weren't in existence here, and if they haven't been made yet, her own might create an inspiration on creating them. She didn't want that to happen, jutsus and all these weapons in this world already caused so much destruction and death. She knew though, that she would have to and would have to make up a reasonable lie and tale as to how she got them, and how she could use them without exposing her flames. So with great hesitance she had begun to practice on using her two guns again. She was always careful when using them, seeing as she didn't want to be questioned by the T&amp;I department.

* * *

'Still...it would seem I have no other choice than to use Rai and Jin for now..' Rai and Jin were the names she had given her dual hand guns. Or rather the names Tsuna had suggested to her and she had liked them. 'Until I can build up my chakra reserves, my flames are my trump cards.' She thought to herself as she took out her box and twisted around her fingers.

But how to explain how she got them. That was one of the questions that had troubled her over the past few weeks of training by herself. One possible explanation was that they were made especially for her by family. Which wasn't a lie but it would bring to question who her family was. Leading to possible investigations and information about anyone ever using weapons similar to hers. All of which would lead to a dead end, because she did not belong to this world. Her and Fran were anomalies in this strange and vast ninja and samurai based world with the ability to mold chakra.

Frowning she put on her lightning ring and lit it up with her flames. She then connected her ring to her green box and sparks of lightning came from the box to reveal her two silver semi-automatic handguns. She gripped them in her hands and reveled in their familiar weight. With a sharp look in her eyes she focused her flames into Rai, the gun on her left, and fired. It didn't make much noise, except for a faint crackling sound of electricity, as a beam fired out and made a hole in one of the trunk of a tree. She frowned at that, she had focused too much flames and instead of less.

'Crap, my control still isn't as good as I had thought I had it.' She didn't want to kill her opponents, merely stun them. Despite everything she did not wish to kill unless absolutely necessary. Putting her arm down she then looked at her other box, the white one.'I wonder...if it would be possible to use those...' She had thought about using her snow flames, but that would only bring more questions than her guns would. For one, while her lightning based weapons didn't have an animal form her snow weapon did. They were two eight inches white, with blue tipped winged butterflies, and when changed turned into handles with ribbons at the tips. While in animal form, they were used as defence, as well as scouting but when in cambio forma, they allowed her to go into offense. Using ribbons as a choice weapons may have been strange but they worked for her and allowed her for mobility.

'However...while I can explain the use of my lightning flames, I can't explain why Yuki and Chou change into ribbons or how I can channel my snow flames into them without more of my background being checked. Not to mention the ability to have a water affinity is rare here in the land of fire, much less the ability to manipulate snow. Boy would that be a joy to explain.' She grimaced at the thought of what could be done to her and none of them were pretty. '...Maybe it's best I just stick with Rai and Jin for now. That is until me and Fran leave the village.' She pushed back any thoughts of how devastated Naruto or Sasuke would be when that time came, or how much it would pain her to leave them.

She then sighed as she looked back at the tree determined. "Time for more practice."

* * *

Time eventually neared and she had only a week left before she and her team had to depart for the Chunin exams. Her control with her flames had gotten better and the least damage she could do was probably give low voltage burns. Which was what she had hoped for seeing as she didn't want to cause permanent damage to her opponents in the exams. She may have killed others before, but they were adults, not children and pretty much fifteen and younger were kids to her.

She had also worked on expanding her chakra reserves which granted would be helpful but not much use until she was able to learn more difficult jutsu without running the risk of injuring herself. For now though, she was confident in her skills with her weaponry, and body. She would make use of her speed and flexibility to the best of her advantage.

"Yume-nee you'll be going next week on Friday right?" Fran asked as she was meditating on the floor. WIthout looking at him she responded. "Yes, you and Naruto will be fine at the home of Mikoto-sama correct?"

"Yeah, me and Fishcake are ok with it. Although do we really have to be on our best behaviour?"

"Yes, that means no using any of your flames during that time."

"Aww, but why?"

"Fran we've gone over this. If you prove to be too advanced or a prodigy in something it's more than likely that you will be enlisted early into the academy. Then shipped off to become a Genin, and who knows how quickly you could make it to Chunin. If that were to happen it'd be more difficult for me to make sure you're alive. Your like six for crying out loud." By this time she had opened her eyes and had given Fran a serious stare.

Fran shrugged but could not refute her logic. Boss would hold her accountable for his death and probably try and kill her. Xanxus may not be a caring boss if they got injured but it would be an insult to him and the Varia if any were killed, and by those much considered weaker than them.

"So where are you and your team going Yume-nee?"

"Sunagakure." She said after a moment. Daitaro-sensei had told them in their last training session that that's where the Chunin exams were being held this time around. Unfortunately, unless she brought her own water she would not be able to use any of her own water natured jutsus.

"Eh, isn't that place somewhere in the desert?"

"Yes, it's going to be a long journey it seems."

" I wonder are there scorpions in that desert…" At that Yume just shook her head at Fran's comment. There would undoubtedly be scorpions there, so she'd have to be careful. Frowning thoughtfully, she got out a piece of paper and a pencil.'Better make a list of what I need.' She then began to write:

**Some antidotes for poisons**

**2 Flask to hold water(for Jutsus)**

**3 canteens to hold water**

**Food**

**Lighter clothing**

**Something to cover body from Sun's rays**

**Replenish weaponry**

**Toiletries **

**Wraps**

**Extra storage scrolls**

She hummed as she then heard the door burst open.'That must be Naruto as usual.' She thought amused as a small blur ran into the kitchen where she and Fran were.

"Yume-nee! Is it true what that Duckbutt-teme said? Are we going to be staying over at his house?" He asked not even pausing for breath. Smiling she nodded to him as he pouted.

"But why? Me and Fran can take care of ourselves." She shook her head at that.

"That may be so, but I'll be gone longer than two weeks this time I think. I also don't feel comfortable leaving you both by yourselves for that long either. I don't doubt you both can take care of yourselves Naruto-kun but I'd rather you have someone watch over both of you."

"Yume-nee is right Fishcake. I can't cook, all you eat is ramen, and I don't feel like picking after you. You're too messy." Fran said boredly as he stuck his pinky into his nose and Naruto yelled.

"You're messy too!"

"Eh, that's cuz I'm lazy, you're just messy period."

"Why you-"

"Okay, that's enough both of you." She placed a hand on top of their heads and ruffled Narutos hair while patting Fran's head. " Please understand Naruto-kun, I want to be sure you're both taken care of well and that nothing bad happens to you."

"...Okay, but when you come back I can play as many pranks as I want!" She smiled at that. "Ok, but only for a week or two."

"What a bad guardian you are Yume-nee." Fran said as she sweatdropped and coughed lightly.

"Yes well...so long as you understand."

"Horrible parenting too.."

She blushed as Naruto began to laugh and she looked away but had a small smile on her face.

**M:I don't feel too confident with how this chapter turned out but I hope it wasn't bad. **

**It'll be more difficult for me to update for a while but I'm going to try and continue writing when I can. **

**P.S. There are some more things I want to address but can't think of what at the moment, I'm so tired from all of the tests I have to take, and work I have to do. So I'll probably address them in the next chapter when I have chance to think.**

**animagirl:**That's a good suggestion, maybe I should have a flashback where Tsuna gives her one of those looks.

**Morgan de Arc**: You're right, Yume just isn't really her without her guns but hopefully I'll be able to have her use them sometime soon.

**Guest:**Well it'd depend on what she'd decide as well as Itachi when he realises she's from a different world. I have an idea of what will happen but nothing concrete yet.


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or KHR

On the way to Suna

The day finally came when she and her team would depart for the exams. She had already dropped off Naruto and Fran yesterday in the afternoon, leaving her by herself in her apartment. Her things were already packed and she already had her new outfit on.

She had exchanged her black longsleeve for a fishnet for an undershirt, and a pale purple short sleeved shirt, and her grey pants for for grey shorts. She had also wrapped the exposed part of her legs. Unfortunately she hadn't found anything to cover her whole body that she found appealing so she would just have to deal with the scorching sun somehow. Hopefully she would not get sunburn.

As she approached the main Gate entrance into the village she began to hum the familiar tune from her home. 'Tsuna...I will pass this exam, and that will lead me more towards my goal. I will not fail, I promise...boss.' She held her lightning ring tightly in her hand. She then put the ring on her hand and noted that it was still a bit too big.

"..." She was put out by that fact and sighed mentally. 'I just need to grow up a bit more. Then It'll fit and I won't have to worry about losing it.' While she had been lost in her thoughts she had failed to notice that someone had been creeping up on her.

"Yume-chan!"So she was startled and instinctually she reached for her box but relaxed when she realised it was just Shisui. It was a good thing it was just Shisui and that she had not used her box weapon yet.

"Shisui-kun, you startled me." She stared accusingly at him while he just kept on grinning unabashed. She put away her ring, making sure he didn't notice.

"Heh heh then I accomplished my goal shorty." She huffed and rolled her eyes. "I'm still growing, I'll get taller soon." Although, she wasn't in the least bit excited to having to go through puberty again, or what it entailed for her. She again resumed her humming, not having noticed that she had stopped earlier.

"Itachi-chan's late." She said after a while, not even bothering to say anything about their sensei. He usually showed up half an hour late during trainings and an hour when going on long mission.

"Oh, probably the kids keeping him up."

"Probably."

Then they spotted a figure approaching them and saw that it was Itachi. Once he was a few feet away from them she noticed that his hair seemed a bit messy and that he had bags under his eyes. "Good morn-"

"Geez Itachi, you look horrible." Her greeting had been interrupted by Shisui who was stating the fact on how Itachi looked, She almost facepalmed at that as Itachi glared at Shisui.

"Be quiet. I'm not in the mood right now Shisui." He said warningly as he sat on the ground and closed his eyes, trying to at least get a few more minutes of extra rest.

Soon the other teams that would also be participating in the exams started to show up. Their sensei had also told them that they would be joined by four other teams. It was bad on her part, she knew but she didn't even bother getting to know those teams or their names. Shisui had gone off, talking with those teams and every once in a while looked back towards them.

Sitting down also, she had decided on taking care of Itachi's messy hair. He had opened his eyes in question when she had begun to comb it and she shrugged. He then closed his eyes again and had let her take care of his hair. It may have seemed girly, for her to be doing that but she doubted Itachi would bother combing his hair till tomorrow. He really didn't care much for appearances at times, much less when he was tired.

"Playing dress up at this time?" Someone said as she finished tying up Itachi's hair in its usual style. She looked up and noticed that it was boy four years older than her. He had brown hair, tan skinned and dark colored eyes. She observed him, trying to figure out if he was being rude or just curious. It seemed to be a mixture of both.

"His hair was messy, I just helped make it look the way it usually does." Was her response after a while as the boy shifted on his feet.

"Oh...Well, are you guys Yume and Itachi Uchiha? You know the ones that people say hold a lot of promise in their careers as ninjas?" At that she raised her eyebrow and noted that Itachi was in a light sleep and didn't want to bother him.

"I know nothing about what people say but yes. We are they."

"Oh well cool." He then smiled as he rubbed the back of his head. "Ah, how rude of me. I forgot to introduce myself. The names Narumi Tao, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise Narumi-san." She said and sighed as she saw that everyone was already here, except for their sensei.

"So..are you intimidated by the fact that you're with a bunch of older people going to the Chunin exams?" He asked after a while of her remaining silent.

She frowned as he asked that question, wondering why was he bothering to talk with her. Was it perhaps, he was scoping out the competition? 'No...I don't think it's that...but seriously, why is he bothering to talk with me? Why isn't he like some other people who usually avoid me and Itachi…'

"No... There is nothing to fear, in the end, the fact that we are heading towards the exams means that at some level we are equal in skill and strength."

The boy looked at her curiously before smirking. "You're a strange one kid."

"I've been told that a lot."

Before the boy could say anything Shisui returned followed by a girl and a boy, the same age as him. "Hey Yume, seems like you're getting along well with Narumi-san." Shisui grinned as he saw her shrug and saw that Itachi had given up on napping anymore and was just watching them.

"We are Shisui-san." Narumi said as he placed a hand on top of her head and ruffled her hair. She closed her eyes, not wanting to show that her eyes held sadness and nostalgia in them. Yamato-kun would do that at times whenever she was feeling down, and she got angry at him for ruining his hair. He would always just laugh as she yelled at him angrily and fixed her hair.

She smiled to herself, as she once again began to hum the tune so familiar. Without much thought she then began to sing portion of the last part of the tune "...kimi to boku to de namimori no atarimae taru nami de ii…" Opening her eyes she saw that Shisui and Itachi giving her weird looks. She merely smiled lightly as she noticed that Narumi and his teammates were also giving her weird looks.

"I never knew that tune had lyrics Yume-chan." Shisui said as he gave her a questioning look. She knew he wanted to know what were the other lyrics but she ignored it and said, "You never introduced your new friends Shisui."

"Oh, right!" Shisui smiled as he pointed to the female and the male. "Kaito, Akira, Kaito, Masaomi." At that she raised her eyebrow as she looked between both of them and noted that they had the sample pale colored skin, common brown hair, and startling purple eyes. The eye color was unusual since not many people she had seen had purple eyes, and she knew the name Masaomi was a rarely used as a first name.

"Twins?" She asked and they both nodded as tilted her head. 'That figures, and by the looks of things between Narumi-san and them they must be very well attuned to each others presence and strategies.'

Narumi and the twins then began to talk with Shisui and Itachi. She didn't bother paying attention to what they were saying. Thankfully their sensei finally had decided to show up. It was a good thing too because some of the other teams were already growing impatient.

She walked away not wanting to be surrounded by so many people and walked toward Daitaro-sensei. "Sensei, you're late." She said accusingly as he merely chuckled lightly and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yes well, my alarm didn't ring and the Hokage had called me for something."

"Hn…"

"You're hanging around those Uchiha's too much Yume-chan." He said as he heard her response. She rolled her eyes at that.

"I hang out with the least pricklies and stoic Uchiha's, so you shouldn't say something like that."

"Yeah, yeah.."

* * *

They had been traveling through the forest for the past few days and they had finally arrived at the border leading to the Land of Wind. The first signs of them nearing the border had been the thinning of the trees, and so they had to travel by foot then. Then it was the fact that vegetation was becoming scarce and the rise in temperature as well. Finally, the final sign was the sand that showed the divide in the border.

During their travel to get to the border, Shisui an Itachi had spent time around, Squad 2, as she had learned was what was the name for Narumi's team. She didn't mind it seeing as she had decided to travel ahead with Daitaro-sensei. During missions, when they had to escort or protect someone at times she had taken the lead with the permission of Daitaro-sensei. She would scout on ahead for any trouble, and during that time, they all had their first kill. Or rather Shisui and Itachi did, she already had hers a long time ago, although they didn't know that. They hadn't really taken their first kills horribly, but it was understandable. As shinobi, they would see death, and a lot of horrible things. It wasn't much different from the mafia but at least, in her world many people were untouched by knowledge of the dangers of the world, unlike here.

As she stayed close to Daitaro-sensei ahead she peeked back and saw that Shisui and Itachi seemed to be getting along with Squad 2. "Why don't you join them Yume-chan?" Her sensei asked, as he saw her take a peek. She shook her head.

"It's ok Daitaro-sensei. I don't feel like joining them." Daitaro frowned at her response. "You know as a Chunin, it is required to work along with others that weren't your original team."

"I know sensei, and I also know that as a Chunin I'd have to be able to work with others to be able to lead. I have no problems with them sensei, I just don't feel comfortable at the moment to talk with them."

"Why is that?"

"I….I am unsure of their motives and wish to take a while to analyze them. Nothing personal but still...I'd rather be safe than sorry. It's not that I think they'd actually harm us but I wonder if they are just getting friendly with us so they can glean knowledge about us. With knowledge about people one can determine personality and other certain tidbits about a person."

With a nod Daitaro agreed to what she said but still didn't approve of her decision.

* * *

Travelling through the desert was rough, and uncomfortable for her. It made her wish that there were modes of transportation like cars that would require less movement of the body and less sweating. Thankfully, she hadn't gotten any sunburns but she certainly had sweated a lot. She didn't like the desert at all, at least during the day, at night the temperatures were super cold but it was her element in a way.

They had also encountered scorpions, it was during their third day that they did, and boy did that scorpion look like it had come out of a movie. It was huge, and it had looked very intimidating. However, their sensei's had taken care of them and it didn't look like it took much effort for them.

'It certainly shows the difference in skills between Genin and Jonin. Damn...I have to get stronger.' She thought as she she sat slightly away from everyone else and stared up at the night sky. She had a semi-thick blanket wrapped around her body and she didn't appear bothered much by the cold.

She then heard someone approach from behind her, coming directly from the group. The person then sat next to her and she saw that it was Itachi.

"Yume, do you dislike Narumi-san and his team?" He asked and that had her raise her brow. He looked at her with a frown.

"No. I don't hate them Itachi-kun. I just don't feel comfortable...around so many people I guess." Not a total lie, but not the entire truth either. "They are wonder if I hate them because I am not hanging around you guys, I'm guessing, so you were sent to ask right?"

He nodded. "Yes."

"..." She sighed as she stared back up the sky. She could feel his gaze on her and she knew what type of point he would make. It would be the same as Daitaro-sensei's. "...I'll talk with them tomorrow ok?"

She could feel his approval, even if she didn't look at him. "How do you think the boys are doing back at home."

"..I suppose they are doing well, but I can't help but feel that you're otouto is causing trouble to mine Yume."

She chuckled at that and didn't disagree. Fran always had a way with people. "I'm sure it's not anything too bad. I've raised them well."

"...Yume..you're otouto is right, you're too lax and let them do as they wish too much. It's no wonder they get in trouble." Itachi stated as he saw that she didn't

appear to hear sweat dropped and shook his head. 'She's in denial.'

* * *

**In Konoha**

Fran was running as blunt objects were being thrown at him by Sasuke. Sasuke's excuse being that it was training but Fran knew otherwise.

"Oi. Duckbutt-chibi you're aim is low. It's going way off track." A lie, seeing as the objects weren't going too off track but it had more to do with the fact that Fran was good at dodging poorly aimed things.

"Shut up you oversized hat wearer!" Sasuke yelled as he kept throwing more objects at him. Naruto was just laughing as Fran was avoiding the ojects and Sasuke's poor aim.

"Duckbutt-chibi. There's no need to get so angry when all I'm doing is stating things."

"You-"

"Sasuke!" A stern voice called back from Sasuke's home and Fran, Sasuke and Naruto stopped what they were doing. As Fran looked, his eyes widened and he shivered. For the one who had spoken was Sasuke's own father and he looked displeased. Unfortunately, he couldn't stop from saying what was on his mind then.

"Gah! A monster! Scary!" At that Fugaku blinked as he heard the outburst before his face resumed his usual stoic mask. He sighed as he stared at the children. He saw that the blonde child was confused but understood on some level that he should stay quiet, the green haired child was shaking and looking at him as if he were some frightening beast. Which was laughable seeing as his so called little brother held such a beast, and then there was his son who looked ashamed at what he was doing.

He made no move to say anything further about his actions seeing as his son seemed to understand that what he was doing wasn't fit of how an Uchiha should act. "Sasuke, it is time to go back inside. She requires you and your friends to help."

Sasuke nodded as his face brightened and he and the other two children went inside. He had seen what his son was doing and had been mildly surprised by how well the green haired child avoided the objects shown. However, he suspected that Yume probably trained him and the other child. He frowned at that, he would see to it that when he was able to, that Sasuke would also begin his own training. An Uchiha is always better than others, and he took pride in the fact that his son's aim wasn't horrible. It was off aim, true, but not terribly much and he had talent.

Taking one last look at where the children last were he headed inside. 'Indeed, he will be exceptionally talented.'

* * *

**Back with Yume and the others**

The next morning, Yume did as she said and approached Narumi, Masaomi, and Akira.

When she approached them she bowed and apologized. "Ano...I'm sorry if you all, for making it seem as if I disliked you. It wasn't my intention."

At that they blinked and Narumi was the first to talk as he smiled. "It's ok Yume-chan, but would you mind telling us what your intention was?"

At that she tilted her head and pondered on answering his question but eventually did so. "I am...not comfortable around others more so new people, and I felt more comfortable with my sensei." Again, not a total lie but neither the complete truth.

"Oh. I see." He smiled as he ruffled her hair, she frowned at that and looked away. Narumi smiled apologetically.

"Oops. Guess you don't like that do you."

"...Sorry."

"It's ok."

"Hey Narumi, you should stop flirting with that child." Akira said irritably as she looked angrily at Narumi.

"I wasn't flirting Aki!" Narumi moved his hands away as he waved his arms frantically while Aki merely huffed and looked away. She blinked at that as realisation dawned on her. 'It seems Akihara-san has a thing for Narumi-san and so does Narumi-san.' She smiled at that and held back a laugh.

"It's funny to see isn't it?" Masaomi asked as he noticed that she was trying to hold back her laugh. She nodded and she let out a small laugh.

"Yeah. They're always like that. It makes me feel like the third wheel and I wish that they'd admit they like each other already." He stated as he put his hands behind his head as he looked up at the sky. "It's so hot out here too."

"Yeah."

Then they were called by their senseis that they would head out. Today would be the final day that they'd travel and should arrive at Sunagakure soon. At that Yume felt a nervousness settle in her stomach but didn't let it show. 'Soon, we'll be there soon.' They had finally arrived at Suna and saw that there were cliffs naturally protecting the village. Apparently, they had been lucky to not get caught by any sandstorms was what one of guards said as their papers were being checked.

When they were allowed entrance she felt herself become more nervous but she had a determined look in her eyes. 'Tsuna...boss. I'm here, and I promise I won't fail.'

**M:Yay! I finished and I'm happy it appears a lot of people like this fanfic. ^-^ I feel so happy for that. I hope you all like this chapter too. I probably won't be able to update till either this weekend or early next week. **

**As for what I wanted to say, I forgot. I'm not very good at remembering. Oh well, hopefully I can remember by next time. Tee hee.**


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or KHR

Bonds

"So this is Suna.." Yume murmured to herself as she saw that all the buildings seemed to be made from clay. She noticed that there weren't many people around at this time either. Yume tensed when she felt someone grab her hand.

Turning, she saw that it was Itachi who was motioning for them to follow their sensei and one of the Suna ninja. They would be led to the hotel where they would be staying in, it wasn't because the Suna ninja was their guide but rather for caution. Even if both ninja villages were allies, it didn't mean that they shouldn't be cautious. Once there she was placed in a room by herself, while the boys got a room they would share and their sensei his own.

She had taken a shower, eager to get rid of all the sand and sweat she had accumulated on her body when going through the desert. "That was refreshing." She murmured to herself as she went towards her bed and laid down. The bed wasn't too soft but it wasn't uncomfortable either. "Tsu-kun…everyone...as the Vongola Snow Guardian, I promise I will not lose." She said to herself as she looked up at the ceiling. 'I really want to go home. I wonder what everyone is doing right now..." She smiled to herself and she closed her eyes, falling asleep with thoughts filled with scenarios and things that happened with the Vongola.

* * *

**With the Vongola**

"Hey you stupid Cow! What the hell do you think you're doing?" Gokudera yelled as he glared at the eleven year old Lambo. Lambo glared at Gokudera.

"None of your business Bakadera." He then stuck his tongue out, and made blew a raspberry. He then got back to what he was doing. Which was trying to put all of the candy he could in a backpack.

Gokudera got a tic mark on his head, while he glared at Lamba. "Why you-"

"Maa~ Maa~ Calm down Gokudera. Let him be, don't get angry." Yamamoto said while patting Gokudera on the shoulder with his usual grin.

"Mind your own business baseball freak."

"Ah, that sure is a lot of candy Lambo-kun." Yamamoto commented after seeing the amount of candy in the bag, not appearing to hear Gokudera. This angered Gokudera who got a tic mark on his forehead but he restrained his anger. It wouldn't do well if the second hand man let his anger get the best of him all the time.

Yamamoto was peering into the fridge by the time Gokudera had completely controlled his anger. "You sure took all the candy Lambo. You best be careful all that candy can give you a stomach ache."

"Hmph, Lambo-san isn't stupid. Lambo is just taking...eto..taking…"He trailed off as he closed his eyes trying to find the right word. He then gave up and said, "Just taking food and stuff so I can go find Yume-nee!"

"Oh, but didn't Tsuna say no to that already for you Lambo?"

"I don't care! Lambo-san is not weak and Lambo wants Yume-nee back!" He said angrily. "Lambo-san is strong, I can do it."

"Shut up you stupid cow. You can't go against Juudaime's orders."

"Urusei, Bakadera! You don't do anything to get Yume-nee back!"

"Are you suggesting I don't care!" Gokudera got in Lambo's face and growled at him.

"Well I don't see you doing anything!" Lambo barked back as he stuck out his tongue.

Yamamoto frowned and before Gokudera or Lambo could begin to fight he put a hand on top of Lambo's head and one on Gokudera's shoulder. He spoke seriously. "Now, now, c'mon let's not fight."

"Tch. Don't tell me what to do baseball freak."

"Hmph, Bakadera started it."

Yamamoto sighed and smiled a bit as he patted Lambo's head. "Lambo I know you want to find Yume, we all do but at the moment it's not possible. But I'm sure she's alright so don't worry. Yume wouldn't want you to act all worried or disobey Tsuna's orders would she?"

"Well...no." Lambo pouted while looking away and had his arms crossed. "But why can't I help? It's not fair!"

"Tch. You're such a brat." Gokudera said as he glared at Lambo while crossing his arms.

"Urusei, Bakadera!"

"No, you shut it, you stupid cow! There are reasons for why Juudaime isn't letting you go. One of them being, you're still a kid, and that he worries about you."

"I'm not a little kid anymore!"

"You're eleven! Practically still a kid, and even if you were allowed to go, the machine is still not ready. After all, someone just had to break it didn't they?" He said accusingly at Lambo.

"Bu-but….hmph. Lambo-san is innocent."

"AS IF!"

Lambo rubbed the back of his head and looked into his backpack eyeing all the candy. "Sorry did you say something?"

"You little brat, you're just asking for it aren't you?"

"Heh heh, it's good to see you both getting along now." Yamamoto smiled, back to his usual self.

"WE'RE NOT!" Both Gokudera and Lambo exclaimed. As Gokudera then began to talk angrily at Yamamoto, Lambo began to tiptoe out of the kitchen. Even if he couldn't go find Yume for now, he would still eat all of his candy. However, just before Lambo could make it out he bumped into someone.

"What do you think you're doing herbivores?"At that Lambo looked up, knowing who it was already and paled. That caught both Gokudera's and Yamamoto's attention and they both looked up as well. Gokudera paled while Yamamoto merely smiled.

"Hi there Hibari!" Yamamoto said happily.

Hibari merely stared at him, before he glanced around it was only those three who were in front of him. Obviously, they had moved out of the way, intelligent enough not to crowd Hibari. He smirked at that.

"Hn..herbivore." Before Hibari could do anything he heard and sensed people behind him.

"Ushishishi. Well if it isn't it nice to see some of the peasants around when you're looking for them."

"VOOI! You piece of scum, seems you haven't changed."

"Hm..I don't get why I have to be here. I'm not getting any money out of this."

"Squa~ Here you are! I was looking for you~"

"Go away! Don't come anywhere near my hair!"

"Kufufu~ My seems like some uninvited guests arrived."

Hibari glared as he took out his tonfas as he stared at the people behind him. They were crowding him and he did not like that one bit, much less the annoying pineapple that appeared. Oh, how he would enjoy beating the shit out of them for crowding him.

Meanwhile, Gokudera, Yamamoto, and Lambo had wisely escaped, not wanting to get caught in a fight with Hibari. Yamamoto, and Lambo had gone off somewhere while Gokudera went to talk with Tsuna. Not in the least bit happy, seeing that he would have to tell him the news, some of the Varia were here and they would need to restore the kitchen...again.

"Shit, this is such a bad day. First that stupid cow and now those lunatics." Gokudera was in a bad mood, and he had a feeling Tsuna was also going to be in a bad mood. He shivered, already guessing how Tsuna would react. He was still kind and all, but time after time of destroying things had gotten him annoyed and he became scary whenever he found out something else was destroyed. 'I hope I get to live through this.' He thought as he neared the big mahogany doors, dreading to open them. With a gulp, he knocked and then when a muffled 'Come in' was heard he opened them.

* * *

**In Suna**

The next morning Yume woke up, feeling refreshed and well rested. She had thought she would have trouble getting enough rest in a new place but that didn't seem to happen. She got ready, wearing an exact copy of the clothes she had worn, before coming to Suna, and headed out to meet her team.

By the time she got to the lobby, she saw that her sensei and both Uchiha's were already there eating. She rolled her eyes at that. 'Figures they wouldn't wake me up. Sensei is too lazy, Shisui probably did it for some reason and Itachi...well Itachi is just not a morning person.'

"Ohayo." She said as she took the seat left, and looked at them accusingly. Her sensei merely smiled, while Shisui grinned and Itachi nodded to her.

"Ohayo, you seem well rested" Her sensei commented as she began to look at the menu. She shrugged as she glanced at the food here. 'Hm...I think I would like to eat some broiled fish..but the rice porridge is also tempting. What to choose, what to choose.'

"So Yume-chan, what say we go take a look around Suna?" Shisui asked as he saw her finally put away the menu, having made a decision.

"I guess. I was planning to go out and have a look around anyways." She she went to order her breakfast.

* * *

"That wasn't much of a breakfast you know, Yume-chan. You have to eat more." Shisui commented as they walked around. The sun's rays felt extremely hot and she did not feel comfortable. 'I wish they had air conditioning.' She thought. 'And cars too..but it's best that they don't. The air is a lot cleaner than back home and at least this way, we can get used to differences in weather climates.'

She sighed. "I eat more than that usually, it's just if you've noticed some of the prices for food and drink were much higher than they should I think. Water is a precious resource for here and so is food, so you can say I feel a little bad for eating a lot. That and I don't trust the food they serve here, were foreign ninja after all. So one can't be too cautious."

"You're too serious." Shisui deadpanned as she shrugged at his comment. "Hm...and too wary too."

"Well excuse me if I have to be the one to be like that." She muttered as she noticed that they were being watched from a distance by Suna ninja, and ANBU by the chakra signatures she sensed. There were also some foreign ninja, who were probably scoping out the competition. Smart of them, but she still did not appreciate the fact that they were being watched.

"You need to lighten up." Shisui said as he ruffled her hair, while she glared at him and fixed her hair with her hands. "Why does it seem like a lot of people love to pat or ruffle my hair?" Shisui grinned at that comment while Itachi looked at her amused.

"It's obvious. You're short and a kid, perfect for doing that." Shisui said. She gave him an unamused look.

"If that were the case why don't they do the same for Itachi-kun, huh?" At that Shisui waved his hand in a dismissive manner and said. "Well, it's obvious isn't it? He's a boy and he's an Uchiha, a prodigy at that too. Therefore, he shouldn't be underestimated, not to mention he doesn't react when someone else does it. Unlike you."

"So basically, because I'm a girl, not an Uchiha, and I get bothered by it, it makes me the perfect target for gestures like that."

"Bingo."

"You're an idiot."

"Hey!"

* * *

While they began to bicker Itachi observed them happily, and had a small smile on his face. It was nice to see Yume act like that towards them. She had changed ever since they met, and told them about her plans. At first she was distant, and polite, and she was still like that but now she was closer towards them, and even talked with strangers at times. She acted mature at times, and sometimes, when he looked at her eyes, he thought he saw a sort of gleam, as if she were much older than she appeared.

He shook his head at that, she couldn't be older than them, not really. 'Still...she has told us many things but she still keeps a lot hidden.' He sighed as he noted that fact.

"Hey, Itachi-kun tell you're relative to let me go." Itachi blinked as he saw that Shisui had her in a hold and was ruffling and patting her head. Itachi chuckled at that, and held back from laughing, as she struggled futilely from escaping Shisui's grip. Although he had a feeling she wasn't trying really hard from doing so.

He shook his head. "Shisui, let her go. You both look ridiculous and how did you even get to doing that?" He asked as Shisui grinned, and let Yume go.

"Heh, not telling Itachi-chan."

Itachi sighed, not even bothering to tell Shisui to stop calling him that. He got tired of telling him to stop and it never worked. 'Well, at least they're enjoying themselves.' He smiled softly as he noted that both were in a good mood. 'Now..if only we could lose those observers, but that would lead them to knowing we know that they are watching us.'

* * *

They had walked around Suna for a while, and Itachi and Shisui had eventually left to go train. There audience had also left, the only ones left were the Sand ANBU but they had kept a very reasonable distance that at times she couldn't sense them. During that time, she had bought some candy, and some things for Naruto and Fran when she saw them again.

Unlike Shisui and Itachi, she had decided to continue roaming around Suna, not wanting to go right at the moment. She didn't feel up to training at that moment, even though she should take their example and train. 'I really should go train...but I don't feel like it. I wonder why? It feels as if something is missing from all of this…" Her thoughts trailed as she witnessed a bunch of younger kids running off, almost as if they were scared.

She frowned at that. "Why are they running?" She murmured to herself as she continued walking, heading towards the direction the kids were running away from. When she got their she saw a small boy pale, red headed boy with black markings around his eyes. He looked sad and lonely, almost exactly how Naruto had seemed, when she observed him when he tried to interact with the other village children. She hesitated about what she should do. On the one hand she felt bad for the child, but on the other she didn't want to get involved with more people. But at the same time she couldn't leave a child alone, who seemed so sad.

As she continued to watch the dejected child she sighed, and grumbled. "Stupid conscious…" She approached the red headed child, he had his back towards her as he played with the sand alone. She took out a lollipop, and held it in front of the child's face, probably not the smartest choice but she didn't really know what to say to the child after seeing that. "Here." She said quietly, as the red headed child blinked, and looked at her with wide eyes. His eyes holding a mixture of surprise, fear, and wariness. She didn't say anything else as she continued to hold the candy near the child.

Quietly the child said. "Uncle Yashamaru said to never accept anything from a stranger." She blinked as she nodded at that. "Well, you're uncle is right, but what else would we be but strangers if we've never met before kid." She said as she continued to hold out the candy. "But if it helps, my name's Yume and as you can tell I'm a ninja from another village. Konoha to be exact. What about you? And go on take the lollipop, it's not poisonous or anything. There'd be no merit for me to do so. I'd end up dead, disqualify my team from the Chunin exams and cause unnecessary tensions between the Sand and the Leaf if I did so. "

He hesitated but he took the lollipop and said shyly, scared that she might leave once she learned it. "My names Gaara…" She didn't get scared and sat down a bit away from him, a reasonable amount of distance, that it didn't seem impolite. It was strange, seeing someone not be scared of him after learning his name.

"Well nice to meet you Gaara." She said as she looked to see what he was doing with the sand. At the moment, it was merely a big, mound of sand without much shape. "What are you trying to build there?"

"Ah….I don't know.." He said quietly as he looked down ashamed. She didn't criticize or say anything negative about that. She just merely hummed as she looked at the child curiously but at the same time, it held some sadness.

"You know...that's ok to not know. Nothing to be ashamed of. You'll figure out what to make at some point." She said after a while.

"I-it is?"

"Yeah...but I have an idea of what can be made from there." She said so in an amused tone, but at the same time sad. She was thinking back of the snow sculptures she had seen with the whole Vongola group, and what happened during that trip. It seemed, that even though she had Fran with her now, she still missed them a lot but she knew for sure that they were trying to get her back. "It'd be fun to make a replica of Enzo, or even those from that time…" She murmured to herself, not realizing she was saying those things out loud.

Gaara stared at her as she got an odd look in her eyes, but he recognized the emotion of loneliness and longing in them. As he began to suck on the lollipop she gave him, he observed her. She was a few years older than him, had long brown colored hair that was tied in a ponytail, and seemed kind but different. His sand hadn't reacted when she neared him and surprised him, and it didn't seem to be reacting much right now. He couldn't help but blurt out. "Aren't you scared of me?" He covered his mouth as he felt the sand shift around them, and he looked away ashamed for asking. He was surprised to hear her answer to his question.

"No. Why would I be scared of you? You're the least scariest person I've ever met. In fact, you're more cute than scary." He turned to look at her surprised, but at the same time not. For some reason he knew she wasn't lying but if she wasn't afraid of him and said that he was cute. But if she said he was cute, why did everyone run from him, yelling and screaming.

"But...everyone runs away from me, and scream I'm a monster."

"Funny." She said dryly, in a tone he recognized that it wasn't actually funny. "I know someone who has the same problem as you. I honestly don't get why they say you're a monster if you don't even look like one." She paused for a moment but then spoke again.

"And anyways, like I was saying, I've seen really scary people, and trust me they are." She said as she shuddered, recalling many of the Varia members, Hibari, Mukuro, Vindice and..Reborn.

"They can strike fear in you, and can kill you without you even knowing." His eyes widened at that. "But don't worry, it's doubtful and unlikely you will ever meet them."

He was curious and asked softly. "Who are they? Why are they so scary?" At that she smiled at him secretly. "I'm sorry but I can't really say who they are but….I can say that they are people to not be messed with."

"Oh…" He sounded disappointed. She sensed that and sighed. "You know...this is the first time I've really talked a lot with someone. It's kinda weird." She said with a chuckle. He blinked and cocked his head to the side confused. Seeing that she smiled again. " I don't really talk much most of the time. I usually stay quiet around new people, even those younger than me. But then again, you kinda remind me of someone dear to me, so maybe that's why." She said as an after thought.

Gaara stared at her, not knowing how to respond. It was the first time he had been associated in a positive to anyone. "This person...he's really important, more important than myself and amazing. In the beginning, he was pretty lame, and loser like though." He gave her an odd look as she said that, he didn't know how someone that was lame or a loser could be amazing. "But he's changed, he didn't have friends in the beginning but as he grew as a person he gained friends and family. Two of which, were feared by many. I guess what I'm trying to get at is the fact that, you remind me of him when he was younger." He gave her a hurt look, he wasn't lame or stupid.

She seemed to catch that and she gave him an apologetic look. "Sorry, I didn't mean to suggest you were lame or a loser, what I meant is that he didn't have any friends in the beginning. He was alone, and I'm afraid, I didn't really help with that. I didn't become his friend till much later but we eventually did. You see, he's a kind person by nature, and doesn't like hurting people if he can help it but he was lonely in a way when everyone thought of him as being pathetic and useless. He was alone a lot, you could say. You're alone a lot too, I'm guessing by the reaction you gave me earlier."

He looked down ashamed at that and she reached to pat him on the head but her hand was stopped by his sand. He expected her to scream or jump back in fright but she didn't, she merely smiled and gave him a kind look. "Ah, so that's probably why the kids were running away." It was true, his sand had reacted when the children had denied him from playing with them in their game of ninja. His sand had reacted but hadn't harmed any of the children.

"Aren't you scared?" He asked after a while as she rubbed her hand that had gotten a bit injured by his sand. She shook her head at his question.

"No. I have no reason to be, I've seen a lot of strange things. You moving sand, isn't too strange or weird for me. I know that people tend to fear what they don't understand or get at all."

He smiled at that, glad that she wasn't scared of him. She chuckled at that and began to hum a tune. One that he had never heard of but seemed to hold some time of emotion as she hummed it. He was content to listen to her as she continued to hum, forgetting about building something in the sand.

They stay like that a while, her continuing to hum that tune and him content to listen, being around someone, other than his uncle Yashamaru, who wasn't scared of him. He blinked and frowned as she stood up. It was already evening, and they had been the only ones left there in the small lot for playing. "I'm sorry Gaara but I have to go now."

He wasn't pleased at that, and his sand shifted around him agitated. However, it calmed down as she said. "But hopefully, we will see each other some other time. I have to go meet with my team now and prepare for the Chunin exams."

He looked at her sadly as she said that but would hold her to her word. "Okay...but...we can play next time?"

She smiled at him softly. "Yeah. Next time we will." She made a move to pat him on the head but his sand stopped her again. Her smile didn't falter, and she gave him another lollipop instead. "Till next time Gaara, we'll see each other again my young friend." She chuckled at the fact that she sounded weird for saying something like that, even if the age gap wasn't that much of a difference.

**M:Hi, sorry I didn't update earlier like I mentioned I would. I tried but I had a lot of work for college, plus my own personal laptop's charge doesn't want to work anymore so my laptop is dead. I can barely use my mom's as she only lets me use it abit, and then shoos me away. Thankfully,** **I finally finished this chapter and as an apology I wrote this chapter a bit longer than the others. Well, hope you enjoyed! Ja ne ~ ^-^**

**animagirl**: I'm glad you liked that part, and to be honest I hadn't thought of that. I would hope so but I'm not sure how they would let Naruto go to Suna. I don't really think the council or the Sandaime would let Naruto be exposed to danger since he is the Jinchuuriki. I don't know, but it'd be nice for him to attend, so I'll try to come up for a reasonable explanation if he does.


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: I don't own KHR or Naruto

**A/N: Edited on 5/7/15. No changes really, just a bit of an added scene is all.**

Let the Exams Begin

When she got back to the hotel, Shisui and Itachi had also barely arrived. Daitaro-sensei was also with them and she figured he wanted to talk to them when he motioned for them to head upstairs. Once there he led them to his room and closed the door. They watched him as he went to check the window and closed the blinds as he then turned to look at them.

He was quiet for a moment and Yume couldn't help but begin to feel nervous. Why were they called here? Her question was soon going to be answered as their sensei finally spoke. "Well, it seems two of you have been training." He commented lightly. Shisui smiled sheepishly while Itachi merely kept a calm deadpanned look as if to say 'what else would we be doing?'

Daitaro chuckled at the look Itachi gave him, and turned to look at Yume. "Yume, you don't appear to have trained but you still have a minor injury. Care to explain?" He asked as he looked at her hand. She blinked and then looked at it.

"Oh...well...just a small accident with some sand." She said, it was the truth but she wasn't sure if she should mention Gaara to them, so she stayed quiet about that. This caused her to get weird looks from Itachi and Shisui. Daitaro sighed, as if he knew that she wasn't telling the whole truth. Again. He had noticed that she did that at times, and even though he didn't know what the whole truth was, he could still sense that there were things being left out. He wouldn't call on it for right now, but he would later.

"Alright then." He said. "Hm..I'll just get straight to the point. You know the Chunin exams are in two days, and if you're going to train do so tomorrow only so you can have at least one day of rest. Make sure not to show any of your more advanced skills, it is better if they underestimate you in the beginning before gaining the upperhand. Here in Suna the testing is different, and not the same as Konoha. Granted, you haven't taken the Chunin exams in Konoha either." He muttered the last part as they nodded at his words. Either seeming to not have heard the last sentence or ignored it.

"Well...that's all I have to say for now. Itachi, Shisui you can leave. I need to have a word with Yume, so if you wish to talk with her do so later." He stated and they both bowed at him and looked at Yume wondering as to why she would need a talk with their sensei. They didn't say anything though, and left.

Yume stared at Daitaro, and didn't say a word. "Yume, I noticed that you didn't tell me the whole truth about your injury." At that Yume's eyes widened a fraction and she began to sweat a bit. 'Ah… I should have known he would notice.' She thought to herself as she bit her bottom lip.

"This isn't the first time either. You do this a lot, and while retaining information and concealing it is important, it is also important for you to not keep certain things to yourself. It could endanger your teammates, and the mission if that piece of information, no matter how meaningless it might seem at the time, could prove useful." Yume looked down, feeling guilty because she knew he was right.

"Now, I'm not telling you to tell me what actually happened to your hand. However, make sure to not leave out information next time."

"I...yes sir." She said, as she looked up at him. "I'll make sure to not do that again..or at least try to. I can't make any promises that I won't do it sometimes." Was her honest response.

He sighed but nodded, it was good enough of an answer.

"Now onto another matter. Yume, have you been able to learn some elemental jutsus?"

"Well...yes and no." She hesitated before continuing. "I have learned a few D and C rank water releases but that's about it and...well.." She tensed, not really wanting to tell him about Rai and Jin so she would have to edit some things out. Even if she had said she'd try not to do that anymore. "I've been working with a lightning release, that only someone from my family can use."

He raised his eyebrow at that. Slowly, he asked. "Like a Kekkei Genkai?"

"Yes."

"I see...and how do you know how to use it." He looked at her suspiciously. He knew from her records that she was an orphan so unless she was a spy, a really good one, and had managed to meet with her family at some point to train her or there must have been some way for her to figure it out. He doubted she was a spy due to the fact that even if she was skilled, she'd have been found out already. Not to mention, the ANBU would have already eliminated her.

"Well...I remember watching some of the others use it, and how they would explain how it was achieved to me when I was younger. Some things are foggy but I have been able to practice on the control required to use it. It's not perfect but I have good control over it now. I really don't want to say what it really is just yet. I want it to be kept a secret. That way I can surprise everyone sensei. "

"Hm...I see.." He still felt as if she was leaving some things out but then again he could be wrong. He'd have to look into that when he got the chance but for now he'd leave her be.

"Okay, thank you for sharing that. You may leave now Yume, I'm certain Itachi-kun and Shisui-kun have their own questions for you." A look of displeasure crossed her face but more due to the fact that Shisui would bug her until she gave him satisfactory answers and Itachi would be giving her a questioning look until she answered them.

"See ya later sensei." She said before bowing and exiting the room.

She had managed to answer all the questions Shisui and Itachi had without revealing everything that her sensei told her. She had merely said that he wanted to talk to her about something that she had been doing that could have compromised their team on a mission and about his concern over her participation in the chunin exam. Although, she felt bad about not telling them about what they really talked about. She had wanted to keep her weapons a secret until they were needed.

"Hm..so is that all you guys talked about?"

"Well yeah, basically that's it."

"Okay. So Yume-chan, what did you do today? I mean you were out for a long while and you didn't do any training." Shisui asked and he got into her face. "Did you go around spying on people?"

She gave him a deadpanned look. "Shisui-kun I don't go around spying on everyone we meet, just because that one time I thought we were being watched and I spied on the guy and turned out he wasn't, doesn't mean I do t all the time."

"And yet you sensed that we were being followed today." At that she blinked. "Erm..you guys sensed them too didn't you?"

"Yeah, pretty much. It wasn't that difficult to figure out. And we're competition so they would do that." She sighed and shrugged.

"True."

"Yume, may I see that hand?" Itachi asked, he had been wondering about the injury she received.

"Sure." She held out her injured hand and he saw that it was scrapped as if something rough had gone over her hand fast and roughly. He frowned and looked at her, he saw that she was had a relaxed stance and was looking at Shisui as he made a weird face.

"It's not so bad." He commented and let her hand go. He wondered if she had been attacked.

"Yeah, I know." She said as she turned to look at him, and she smiled a bit. "Don't worry Itachi-kun. I wasn't attacked or anything like that." He blinked at her response and she rolled her eyes. "It's easy to tell that's what you were thinking. Almost anyone would think that, given our professions but again. I wasn't attacked." She patted his arm reassuringly, as she headed towards her room.

He didn't say anything and just stared at her back until she was gone. Beside him Shisui smirked and wrapped his arm around Itachi's neck. "So...you falling hard yet?" At that comment Itachi gave Shisui a confused look. He wasn't sure what Shisui was referring to. "Hm...guess not. Oh well." Shisui then grinned as he ruffled Itachi's hair. Itachi rolled his eyes and got out of Shisui's arms and headed towards his room.

So she spent the next day training with Shisui and Itachi, and she got some bruises but so did they. During that time she had to fight the urge of bringing out Rai and Jin. She wanted to use them again and not the Kunais and shuriken she had gotten used to for fighting.

The day after that she relaxed and meditated, for most of the day. Then after lunch she and both Uchiha's had gone to her room to plan out some strategies. They didn't know if they would work out in practice but at least they had some plans in case if anything happened.

Now it was the day of the exams and she was nervous. She shouldn't be but she was, her progress towards achieving her goal depended on her not failing this. She looked at both Shisui and Itachi who appeared to be confidant as they headed towards the Suna Academy building. 'This is ridiculous. I'm a twenty-some year old woman in my ten-year old body. I've taken exams before, fought against tough opponents so why? Why the hell am I so nervous!' She mentally screamed as she managed to not let her emotions show outwardly.

'_Because you're over thinking about things Bakayume. Now stop being a baby and worrying about things that are trivial. You're the Vongola Snow Guardian for a reason now act like it. Or have my teachings not been enough, maybe when you get back I'll make sure to train you some more. After all, you failed to get rid of that grunt, and got yourself in this place.'_

She shivered and almost jumped when she heard Reborn's voice in her head. She hadn't heard it for a long time and hearing it again scared her. For one she did not want to train under Reborn again, it was torture! But Reborn's voice was right. She was the Vongola Snow Guardian for a reason, and it had taken a fight against Sousuke to earn it. This of course happened a year after the events of the representative battles, and then four years of training to even officially be recognized along with the other guardians.

"Hey you okay Yume-chan?" Shisui asked as she blinked and looked at him. Breaking out of her thoughts and she nodded with a small smile.

"Yes...I was just thinking and talking myself out of being nervous."

"Oh, so that's why you shivered. Well, are you not nervous anymore."

"No. I'm fine now. We will pass this Shisui-kun, I'm sure."

"Heh, now that's the right mentality. Think positive." He stated cheerfully while Itachi rolled his eyes but smiled towards Yume. He had worried she might have started to become ill or that her nerves would get the better of her. He had sensed that she was nervous earlier.

Soon they reached the Academy and all three stared at the building then at each other before nodding. They were ready for this test, and they would pass.

**M:Short chapter but I at least got a new one finished. I'm thinking of having the Chunin exams into three separate parts but it may be four or five. I'll see how that turns out, and on another note. This story now has 35 followers! I'm really happy that it seems like a lot of people like this fanfic! ^-^ I'm glad that a lot of people seem to enjoy this story and that makes me even more happy than anything. So when I can I'll update again. That is if my mother doesn't kick me off her computer next time again.**

**Oh, and I started on another story but that's more of a side project than anything. My main focus is on this one. Anyways, hope you enjoyed this chapter. **

**Edited on 5/7/15 :****On another note, I should be able to write the Chunin portions soon. I just have to get next week over with. Finals can be so hard! Like in Chemistry, I don't know what our professor is teaching us at times T.T Oh well, I think I'll be going to a convention tomorrow in which the voice actor of Goku will be there! Kya~ I hope I can make it! Till next time!**

**animagirl:**Don't worry they will, all that needs to be done now is to finally reach that part of the exams.

**angeles372:**Sorry this is late, but thanks for liking this story. I actually can't wait to write Fran again in this story but unfortunately that will take a while. :(


	19. Chapter 19

Chunin Exams Part 1 

Yume watched as the tension in the room increased as every minute passed by. She frowned at the fact that some had even begun to get into an argument. A team from Kiri and a team from Kumo. She sighed as she saw that the other Konoha teams were also radiating tension. It had been about an hour or so since they arrived at the room that was designated for them. They had told them to be their by nine and now it was around ten or so.

'If this tension keeps on rising, who knows how many more teams will begin to fight.'She thought as she observed the other participants. Itachi and Shisui had also been radiating tension however, they had not showed it and were instead observing the other teams. Five from Konoha, eleven from Suna, two from Kumo, and four from Kiri, a total of twenty-three teams, and sixty-six people.

She looked at the number on the paper they had been given soon after entering, it read 14, their team number. When she decided to look to the side she saw Narumi and his team discussing quietly to themselves. She wondered what they were discussing but didn't move towards their direction. Instead she decided to look at her team and asked quietly, but loud enough so only Itachi and Shisui could hear. "So...what do you think so far?"

With the same amount of volume she used, Itachi responded. "They all seemed very skilled, and experienced, but that is based on appearance alone. The two teams arguing right now, seem to be the types to head out and attack first, perhaps not even thinking things through."

"Yeah, and some seem to have this cocky smirks on their faces. From that, it could mean that they are either overconfident, they are strong enough to beat us, or both. Either way, avoiding a direct confrontation, or even confronting them would best be avoided till later." Shisui commented as she spotted the people Shisui and Itachi pointed out. She nodded but before she could comment anything, the door opened and many people had annoyed and relieved looks on their faces.

A man walked in along, with other people who were more than likely chunins. She frowned as she saw that the first man that walked in cleared his throat while he seemed to have a sneer on his face. He wore a standard Suna uniform, with a head wrap, and she saw that he had scars on the right side of his face.

"Alright, settle down, this is an exam for chunin level candidates, not little children applying for the academy." He barked and a lot of the participants gave him glares. Now that he had their attention he went on. "Good, you've all settled down. I am the main proctor of the first portion of the exam. My name is Torimasu, Daichi. Now with that said, I will now inform you that the first portion of your exams have been graded." Many of them had surprised looks on their faces, not understanding what he meant by that. Realization dawned at her, after she processed what he said.

"So...the waiting for that time was to test us on our patience...and to see how we would do as time progressed and tension rose…" She murmured quietly to herself, as she then cocked her head to the side and gave the man a look. She and a few others had seemed to realize what they had done.

"If you all have not figured it out. It is plain and simple. You were tested on the amount of patience you all had, your actions as time progressed and, how you would deal with tension as it continued to rise." He then gave them a glare. "Some of you did better than others, and others….were rather disappointing. All your actions were observed and recorded. This counts for one fourth of your grade in the first part of the exams." At his comment about how some were disappointing she sensed anger and hate emanating from some teams.

He glared and sent some of his KI, and that squashed down any sense of anger from those teams. "Here in Suna, we do not care for coddling our ninja. We only look for the best, and most qualified for joining our ranks. If you are not qualified, you are dismissed from even joining. However, they do so in your village, we do not care. Quality is the only important factor of becoming a shinobi, not the numbers." He said.

"Now with that said, you will be taking the second part of this round in the exams." He took out a small stack of papers and some pencils and they were passed around one sheet per team by the chunin members. When her team got hers she looked and saw that their was only one question on it. A confused look crossed both her and her teammates face.

"Now as you all have seen, you have only one question, which means one chance. You don't give us satisfactory and well thought out responses. You automatically fail, and won't proceed in the exam."

'Oh god...this puts so much pressure on us! If we don't get this question right, we can't proceed, and if we can't proceed, we don't get the chance to become chunin!' A panicked thought crossed her mind as she gulped. There was no way she would fail this. With a look she saw that Itachi and Shisui had clenched their jaws and were stiff. The confidence they had had earlier seemed to have gone.

_Stop panicking Bakayume. If you become panicked you won't think clearly. Can't you see this is a ploy to see how you all will work under pressure? You should be able to recognize something like that by now. Has being away from me, gotten you so soft? _

'I really should get my head checked...I'm hearing Reborn's voice again.' She thought to herself. 'But that's not important right now. The voice is right. It's a ploy to put a lot of pressure on us. That pressure will cloud our judgement, and cause us to overthink, or even underthink what we are supposed to do, leading to error in calculations and decisions.' She blinked as she looked up. 'Wait, wouldn't this somehow be similar when taking important mission and making a decision that can either cause the mission to be a success or fail? In those instances, we only ever have one chance to make a decision..'

_Bingo. You got it Bakayume, it took you a while to figure out. You've gotten even slower since last time we saw each other._

'Hey! I'm not an idiot and I haven't gotten slow you- Oh, what the hell. I'm arguing with a voice that doesn't even have a body, much less the person isn't even here! Ugh, maybe I am going crazy.' Her eyebrow twitched.

"You all begin now, and you will stop when we tell you. Thankfully for all of you, this room is quite large, and there is enough room for all of the teams. If any of you are caught cheating three times, you will be disqualified." The proctor said as all the teams moved to different areas, all being sure that they had a good amount of distance from the other teams.

'Not to get caught cheating three times huh? Bet that means we can cheat if we can't solve the question ourselves. So that would mean that if these questions are of chunin level or higher, then there must be some chunins hiding in here with the other teams as well. Smart.' She thought as she turned to look at Shisui and Itachi. 'Ok, no more admiring how well thought out their strategy is, I better explain this to them, if they haven't figured it out already.'

"Hey, have you guys figured it out?" She asked quietly.

"The part of the test? No." Shisui responded slightly annoyed but kept his tone low. At that she rolled her eyes.

"No, I meant what they're trying to do to us."

"Oh, that. Kinda I think." Shisui replied while Itachi nodded.

"This is testing us on some aspects of a shinobi mission. How one deals with pressure, information gathering, and decision making. Another thing would be how well we guard the information we gather, with the unknown amount of time they have given us." Itachi said quietly.

"Yeah...however I think the minimum we have is half an hour and the most maybe an hour. They want teams to pass but only teams that show quality." She said, and thought that maybe this was similar to how the Varia gathered Varia quality members.

Both of them nodded seriously. "Okay, then lets get to solving the question." She said as all three of them looked at the question.

"Your team's mission is to infiltrate and retrieve a scroll in a hidden enemy village. If something goes wrong, and you are discovered it will lead to complications to your village, such as war. Your first objective is to locate the scroll, contents undisclosed to you and your team in a way that it wouldn't garner suspicion. Once located, you find that the scroll is being guarded by 12 chunin, and 4 jonin; it is possible that Anbu operatives are also guarding said scroll. The building is laid with traps, is 4 stories high, has 8 rooms per floor, and also has guards monitoring each floor. Figure out the most effective way to carry out this mission without fail." She read the question so only they could here.

"So….?" Shisui said quizically.

"It's a scenario type of question...which means our actions or rather the theoretical actions we would take on this mission will be taken into consideration and calculated to see if they would be passable for an actual mission." Itachi said as they all gained a pensive look on their faces.

"But usually a genin wouldn't really know much about this. I mean yeah we got questions like this in the academy but not in full blown detail. " Shisui inputted.

"Not to mention plans don't always go as planned. This thing would need a plan A and plan B maybe even a plan C." Yume added.

"Yeah...Not examining each action carefully could lead the failure of the mission. This type of situation isn't one a genin would usually know."

"Hm…" Yume stared at the question for a moment. "If that's so, then that would mean my theory of there possibly being some chunins hidden in this testing room with the rest of the examinees possible."

"You think there are some Yume-chan?" Shisui asked and she nodded.

"Yes, it's possible and…" She carefully raised her eyes without raising her head much and made it look as if she were talking directly to Itachi. In that direction she saw that there was one particular group, they were writing with full confidence. "Bingo...there is one." She murmured and Itachi gained a thoughtful look in his eyes. After a moment Itachi spoke.

"Then we would have to cheat to get the answer or rather. More or less have a guideline for our own solution."

"Yes, but that won't be necessary Itachi-kun." Yume said quietly as she stared at the problem. "I have an idea of how this should go more or less." Being in the mafia met that at times they would get missions like that, but with more high tech technology, and different methods of fighting.

At that both Itachi and Shisui gave her questioning looks. "But wouldn't-" Shisui began only to get interrupted by Yume.

"Trust me on this Shisui, and have you forgotten we have Itachi-kun here with us. I'm sure he'll catch any flaws in the plans." She said as she stared at them with confidence in her eyes any traces of doubt and fear gone. Both Uchihas stared at her for a moment before nodding.

"Ok..so the part about infiltration. The first thing would be to get into the village either disguised as one of the villages own ninja, but that's out because they would have records of their shinobi, and it would require time to study their habits, quirks, and personality. So then we would have to infiltrate as traders…"

About half an hour later they had finished, and Yume was confident with their response. Some of her suggestions had been faulty but thankfully Itachi caught them and had given much better ones. She had also been aware of people possibly cheating some of the responses during the time they had been writing down their response. She didn't do much about it, since that was one of the objectives, but that didn't mean she wouldn't make it hard for them. She had asked Shisui if he could cast a small genjutsu on the paper, it caused some words and sentences to change, and if they didn't notice, it was their loss.

Not long after they had finished the test proctor spoke. "Time's up. Stop writing and wait until your papers have been graded until then you all shall remain here. Any unnecessary acts of violence will disqualify you and your team." With that said he and the rest of the proctors picked up the papers and left in a swirl of sand, leaving only two to watch over them.

Everyone was quiet for a moment before teams began to talk amongst themselves once more, some teams that were from the same village also joined and formed a large group. Yume's team being one of them as Narumi's team joined them. She didn't bother joining the conversation, it wasn't because she didn't want to, although that held some part to it, but it was more that she couldn't focus on what they were conversing.

'What if I over thought things? What if I caused our team to fail?' The confidence she had before once again came over her, as she bit her bottom lip. 'O Dio mio, please please, let that not be the case. Oh g-'

'_Stop your whimpering and worrying Bakayume! Your being pathetic again.' _She heard Reborns voice again and she was beginning to think she might have some screws loose. Hearing a voice was bad enough, but hearing Reborn's voice along with his criticistic comments was worse.

'Maybe I should get my head checked...or maybe not. Haven't I already gone over this subject? Ugh! I can't remember, I can't really focus either.'

'_Well then why don't you think of something that would help you relax, think Bakayume.'_

She narrowed her eyes slightly, and gritted her teeth.'How the hell am I supposed to think if I can't focus! Stupid, sadistic, mentor, trainer, torturer!' She blinked as she then felt a hand on top of her head ruffling her hair. She turned to give an unamused stare at Shisui.

"Everything alright Yume-chan?" He asked as he looked at her inquiringly, as the others didn't seem to want to be focused on them. Seem being the correct term because she knew that as ninja they were observant but probably didn't want to pry too much about what was going on.

"I'm fine Shisui-kun, just worried is all.." She said as she sighed, and looked away. He gave her a contemplative glance before ruffling her hair once more and smiling. "Don't worry okay? Where's all that confidence you had earlier?" She didn't answer him when he asked.

"Fine don't tell me. Then I'll just guess." He said as she gave him a blank stare as she saw him pout in the beginning of his sentence. "You were having self-doubts weren't you?" At that she felt her eyebrow twitch and she closed her eyes, trying to ignore him.

"Heh, hit the nail on the spot." He grinned and ruffled her hair once more. Growling she smacked his hand, and said stiffly. "Will you quit ruffling my hair?"

He smirked. "What don't like that?"

"As a matter of fact no, and I have half a mind to-" She then cut herself off and shook her head. "You know what, never mind and so what if I was having self doubts? Nothing is wrong with that."

"Of course there isn't, but remember having self doubts isn't good all the time, and even if you do, me and Itachi will always help you. Got it? Sides, with that being said I have a feeling our audience has had enough of their curiosity filled." With that comment she remembered that indeed they would have an audience and not to mention that questions would arise.

Grumbling she glared at Shisui and once again began to talk with them. She then half smiled and shook her head, leave it to Shisui to try and talk with her that way. A wistful gleam glazed over her eyes as she remembered her times with Tsuna and the rest of the Guardians. She wanted to go back home, to modern society, her friends and familly, and the time for the true test to decide who was to get promoted didn't seem to arrive fast enough.

She was slightly startled as the test proctors arrived once more. Everyone soon fell quiet as they stared at the procter Torimasu. "Well, all of the papers have been scored, they are in a scroll and once you read them you will know if you have passed or not. However, before that there is one final question that you will need to answer to advance. If you fail to answer this question correctly, regardless of your score you will not advance. Now anyone of you that wishes to opt out may do so now, and retake the exams again some other time. An option that we look down upon but it is an option nonetheless. Anyone of you that wants to leave, do so now." Everyone was still for a moment, and she noticed that some people began to hesitate, and then leave. After five minutes eight teams had left, she felt herself begin to sweat in nervousness but she wouldn't submit to her fear, and leave.

After another minute and no other team had left Torimasu looked around with a serious look to his eye.

"Well then...with that being done…" There was a pause before the man continued on. "..I must congratulate you all. You all pass." He smirked at their shocked reactions.

"Wati, wait. What about the final question?" Narumi asked as Yume merely stared dumfounded.

Torimasu gave him a displeased look. "I would have hoped that you would have figured that out yourself. There is no final question, it was lie to see who would succumb to pressure and opt out. Those who are unwilling to take a challenge, despite of whatever prowess they may show are not fit to become Chunin. As a Chunin you would be faced with more challenging missions, as well as more difficult decisions. Now with that said, once you team's number is called step forward, then exit out. Your grade will not count for advancing but will tell you how well you did. Even if you failed by our standards and passed, it is only the first part of the exam. Therefore, in all likelihood you will be terminated in the next round." He then began to call team numbers.

All Yume could do was just stare blankly, all that worrying, and planning hadn't really mattered, or rather not really in the long run but rather it let them know on their place on things. They had passed though, and they would advance, which was good but from here on out it would only get more difficult.

**M:And that's that. Hey everyone sorry for not updating for quite a while. I promise I had been planning to update sooner, but my muse just had to leave me when this was starting, and since I didn't want to type all this out while not having any inspiration or motivation to write I didn't. The end results of that would show and it wouldn't have come out very good. Ah well, at least the first part is already done! ^-^ I've started on the second part already but I can't really say as to when it'll be done but hopefully it won't take too long. **

**On another note, this story has 43 favorites and 53 subscribers. Thank you all! This keeps me motivated to keep on with this story! Because of that I've been thinking of maybe writing a chapter or two of some scenarios that are part of this story but don't really focus on Yume but rather on the other characters. I don't know if I should or not though, but please let me know if any of you would like that. Anyways thank you all though! :)**

**P.S. BTW does anyone watch Supernatural or have seen the Supernatural Parody by The Hillywood Show?**

**Snickering Fox: **It's kinda difficult to tell at times, sometimes I think the ninja's seem too over powered but at the same time they don't deal with advanced or modern weaponry so in the end I think it would depend on the ninja or mafia person, as well as to their level of strength. That's just my take though.

**angeles372: **Thank you! Happy mother's day back at ya! Sorry it's late, and I think Gaara will appear again in either the next chapter or the one after that. Well so long as things go according to the timeline I have planned out in my head.

**Kelly Parker:** I actually hadn't thought that they should meet that way but hm...I like your idea! It would be interesting for them to meet that way! I just wonder what nickname Fran will give Gaara. Hehheh.

**animagirl:**Sorry for the long wait for the update, but don't worry pretty soon lil Fran, Naruto and Sasuke will appear! ^-^ I just have to get to that point but on the upside that's just one less chapter wait.


	20. Chapter 20

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Katekyo Hitman Reborn.

Chunin Exams Part 2

* * *

Yume sighed as she swung back and forward on the swingset in the park, she was alone everyone already having left. Or rather she would like to say she was alone, apparently she was being observed by some Suna ninja, what rank she didn't know and she didn't bother giving away she knew that she was being watched.

They had passed the first part, and would still have even if all of what they did really didn't matter in the end. Gripping onto the chains holding the swing she frowned, now all that was left was accomplishing the second part of this exam, the details still hadn't been told to them but they would need to be at the entrance of the by seven tomorrow.

'I wonder what kind of test it will be this time...it might be fighting or something like that..' She then began to hum the namimori middle anthem. 'Either way...I wonder how much longer till I can find a way back home. I can't disregard my duties and...I can't stay stuck here! I made a promise to myself to follow and protect him and everyone no matter what. I owe everything that I am to him, and Reborn.' Unknowingly to her tears began to form in her eyes.

"A-ano...Yume...san?" A soft timid voice startled her out of her thoughts and she looked towards where the source of the voice. In front of her stood Gaara, and he looked at her worried and sad.

"Are you ok?...I...I um…" He looked down at the ground, and she saw that the sand around him seemed to shift. "You...you're not sad because of me are you?"

She stared at him confused at him for a moment before she soon realised that her cheeks felt warm and wet. She let out a soft 'oh' as she realised that she had been crying without meaning to. Quickly, she wiped her eyes and cheeks, turning to Gaara she was about to say something to reassure him that it wasn't his fault when all of a sudden the Sand moved towards her direction.

"Please don't leave me. Please don't be sad. I'm sorry for making you sad." The sand gripped her and she winced and cursed herself mentally for not moving out of the way. She could feel that the ninja observing her was startled and nervous from the small sudden spike in chakra. Not enough to alert anyone else but definitely enough to garner some attention from more experienced ninja and ones that were observant as well.

Quickly she said, "No, no Gaara. You've got it wrong!" Hiding a wince from the way the sand scraped against her and held her tightly she continued. "I wasn't sad because of you!" Gaara held onto the brown teddy bear he had brought along with him and looked at her taken aback and that seemed to do the trick as she was unceremoniously dropped while the sand still lingered in the air.

"Ow..that's going to hurt." She muttered and saw that Gaara was tearing up and clutching the teddy bear tighter. The sand shifting seemed to shift again, and the ninja watching them seemed to have calmed down.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!" He apologized. "Please don't hate me." Now the sand was shifting agitated and she smiled softly at him.

"It's ok Gaara, I don't hate you. It's fine, I know you didn't mean to." She patted his head and held back a cringe from the pain she felt from her arm. It wasn't sprained or anything but she might end up waking with a few bruises tomorrow. 'Better put some wraps around them before Shisui-kun and Itachi-kun see.' Thankfully as she patted his head lightly the sand didn't block her this time.

"There there..don't cry. I'm fine Gaara."

"You..sure?" He asked softly, and she nodded.

"I'm sure."

"But...you were crying when I came here and...I thought I might have done something bad.."

Shaking her head. "No. You didn't do anything bad it's just…" She hesitated and looked at him.

"Do you promise to keep a secret?"

He nodded and stared at her with a serious look on his face."I promise!" At that she had the sudden urge to pinch his cheeks and hold him in a tight hug. He was just so cute with that look on his face.

She smiled softly and sat on the ground motioning for Gaara to sit in front of her. She smiled a bit more when he did and looked at her attentively. "Well...remember when I told you about the person you remind me of?"

He nodded, wondering what she was getting at. "You see...I was thinking about him and about one of the scary people I was telling you about." She sighed as she stared up at the darkening sky. "I miss them...something occurred and I got separated from them. I...I decided to become a ninja in order to be able to find a way back to them. I suppose being a civilian might have let me do the same but I'd be weak and vulnerable to people stronger than me." She clenched her has as she wrapped her arms around her legs.

"I can't be weak because of a promise I made…" Gaara stayed quiet for a moment thinking over what she said.

"Is that why you are here? To get stronger."" He asked curiously.

She gave him a nod. " Yeah, I can't fail the exams. I have to pass...not just for me but for my teammates too. I've held them back until now so I have to make sure to hold my weight on this, then...as soon as I am able I will begin searching for my family."

"Yume-san...what's it like to have a family?" He asked after a while. Blinking she turned to look at Gaara and saw that he was looking at the ground.

"Why do you ask?"

"I..well..I'm curious. I don't have a mommy...and father, sister and brother never visit me. They stay away most of the time. Only Uncle Yashamaru takes care of me."

"Ah...hm..well. How should I describe it." She rubbed the back of her head and looked up at the darkening sky. "A family...gives you the feel of warmth, acceptance and love. Families can also consist of not only blood relatives but by those you form strong and special bonds." At that she smiled softly. "I can't say fully what it's like to have a mother and father or siblings by blood. My parents died in my childhood...but sometime after I ended up having a new family. Not related by blood but through those bonds."

Gaara gave her a confused look, tilting his head to the side a bit. "I don't understand...How can someone not your mommy, father or sister and brother be your family?"

"Ah...tell me does being around your uncle make you feel happy, safe and warm?" She asked. He nodded at her question. "Well it's kinda like that. Your uncle may not be a close family member like your siblings or father but he still is related. Although he still holds some blood relation to you, it's the bond you both share that ties you to family not just blood."

"Oh…" He blinked and stared at her in wonder. "What's your family like Yume-san?"

"My family?" She put a finger to her lips,ignoring the pain that the action caused, as she gave a soft smile. "They're something else I can tell you that, but they are fun to be around." She chuckled a bit as her eyes held a bit of sadness in them. "We all have our own different personalities and likes and dislikes, but for the most part we can get along I suppose." Humming she began to think of all the interactions she had with all of them, and how they interacted with one another.

"However, we would never be able to get along if it wasn't for the fact that we are all connected to one sky." At that Gaara who had been looking at her with wonder gave her a quizzical glance. She saw that and merely chuckled, not elaborating or explaining what that meant. "That sky, accepts and harmonizes us, no matter who we were and are that sky accepts us."

She then began to hum the Namimori Middle Anthem softly for a moment before continuing. "We are one big family because of the deep bonds formed through that sky. Well...back in Konoha you could say I also formed a family bond with someone." She gave a small smile at the thought of Naruto. Despite what she had wanted, he had now become like a small brother to her and she was happy she could be something of an older sister to him. She then frowned. However, she only wished that when she left it wouldn't hurt him but it probably would. That would be one of the few regrets she will have.

She then felt a tug in her hand and she held back a wince. Looking at Gaara she saw concern in his eyes. "..You miss them?"

"Hai...I do, but I try not to dwell on that fact much, because I know one day we will be back together again. Under that same sky once more." She then tried to pat him on the head only to be blocked by the sand. Her smile didn't falter though, and she then stood up, again hiding back a wince from the pain. She didn't want Gaara to feel bad about what happened. "Now I remember I promised you I would play with you the next time we met. So how about we go do that now?" Gaara smiled brightly and held his teddy bear close. "Okay!"

* * *

By the time she had returned to the hotel, it was late, and almost everyone had gone to sleep. However, she had a feeling her sensei would notice her arrival but thankfully he didn't appear to question her. As she entered her room, while she would have like to go to sleep, she didn't want to go to sleep covered in sand. So she took a bath and disinfected some of the scrapes she got from the sand that she hadn't noticed before. She then wrapped her arms and legs. It was a bit difficult given the fact that everything hurt but the pain had lessened more and she knew that with some of the bruises she would wake in the morning she would also feel very sore.

* * *

Sighing she decided to just leave it be and went to sleep. Hopefully her teammates wouldn't pick up on the fact that she was injured but if they did she would give them an explanation.

The moment she had stepped out of the hotel she was jumped by Shisui. They had all eaten a light breakfast, Itachi and Shisui before her. Their sensei wasn't there so she had been the last one to eat.

"Yume-chan! Where were you yesterday? We were getting worried about you. You know it's not safe to be by yourself at this time." He said disapprovingly while she gave him him an unamused look, hiding the fact that she was feeling a bit of pain.

"Ah, yeah I know. But nothing bad happened so what should it matter?" She said with a slight shrug.

"Hm..well I suppose but where were you?"

She sighed and stared at Itachi who was giving her a questioning look as well. "Fine I'll tell you but first...Get off me!"

"Hah hah ok ok." Shisui said with a smile on his face.

"I was out playing with a kid I had met yesterday. We were at the park they have in Suna, and yes he was an actual kid. He hasn't been trained in the way of the ninja yet." She said to both Shisui and Itachi before they could voice the fact that the child may not have been a child.

"I ended up playing with him longer than I had thought I would. That's why I was late." She ended up leaving a lot out she knew but she wasn't lying either.

"Huh." Shisui said in a thoughtful tone and gave her an incredulous look. She narrowed her eyes slightly and huffed. "What is it?"

"Well that's so unlike you. To hang around with someone new willingly."

"Indeed Yume-san. That is quite out of character of you." Itachi voiced his agreement to what Shisui said.

At that she huffed again and didn't bother denying that it was out of character of her. Instead, she began to walk past them. "Shouldn't we be heading towards there now. We'll be late if we don't head there soon, and I doubt they will accept latecomers."

"Ah! You're right!" Shisui exclaimed as he started to move after her. Itachi didn't say anything but followed and quickened his pace.

It took them a while to get to the entrance of the village but thankfully they weren't the last ones to arrive. "At least we're not last but I'm itching to know what the second part is!" Shisui told them as they could practically feel the restlessness from him. Itachi and Yume nodded at what he said. Truth be told, they also wanted to know but couldn't do anything about that.

"Well it won't be long till we find out Shisui-kun so we should try and not get worked up about this." Yume said and she stared up at the sky, she could see that the sun would soon begin to rise.

* * *

"Yeah yeah." Shisui said and sighed as he forced himself to calm down. He then looked at Yume and saw that she was looking at the sky and took notice that she had bandaged her arms. He didn't bother asking her, why she did it. It was probably for the same reason she had covered her legs as they traveled here. He then heard that she had begun to hum that familiar tune of hers.

That got him thinking of what she told him. Even though he knew of her plans he didn't make him feel as if he was going to lose her. She would always be with them in some shape or form and he understood that she wasn't going to leave for any bad reasons. Although others may not see it that way.

He wondered who exactly these family members are. How they were like, and what they have done to make her want to go back to them so badly. It couldn't have been long that she knew them if when she came to be in Konoha was very young from what he had heard. So why? What had they done that made her be so inclined to find them?

He was lost in thought for a moment before he shrugged it off. 'It doesn't matter she will tell us eventually.' He thought as he noticed Itachi staring at Yume before looking away and seemed to become moody for a bit before reverting to his usual stoic face. At that he smirked. 'I wonder…' Before he could continue his thought he was interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat and he, like many others gave the person their undivided attention.

* * *

A man dressed similarly like the first proctor, minus the scars on his face stood in front of the large crowd of prospective chunin candidates. There were only sixteen teams left and only eight would pass maybe less if some killed each other off.

"Listen up, and listen well, for you will only hear this once." He began to speak. "You will all begin the second part of the exams soon. However, we will need to travel to for one day for them to begin. The second part of the exam will be held in the Demon Desert. Upon arrival you all will have one night of rest. The following day before the sun rises your team will be given your scrolls. Your mission will be to guard your team scroll, making sure that it receives little to no damage by that time. The first eight teams to make it to the tower in the Center in three days time will proceed to the final round. Keep in mind, hunting for food, getting supplies and surving will be on you. However before we go you must all sign consent forms that if you die, Suna will not be held responsible and that this was your choice. If you die, we are not at fault."

He saw that some of them seemed to shift nervously and others seemed to be blood thirsty. "Until the second exams begin you all will be forced to tolerate one another. No sabotages, attacks or any type of violence shall be executed until that time. If we have to, you will be disqualified." He said it in a way to show that he was not bluffing. He then watched as they all began to go to the chunin that had the stacks of paper. As he watched them all sign he couldn't help but let his eyes drift to one of the young Konoha kunoichi. The one that they had been ordered to observe due to the fact that it was reported she had been close to the Jinchuriki, and was attacked. If she dared to speak of this to the Hokage of Konoha that may lead to some political problems between the two villages. Something which neither was looking for, so they were ordered to observe her, and to figure out if she held any hidden motive throughout the time they escorted them towards the second round of the exam.

However, he couldn't help but be surprised she was physically well, after being attacked. Or rather appeared to be but he could pick out that while she was not too injured it would hinder her if she was in a bad situation, and she was getting injured a lot. Yet he could see that the girl seemed to have a sort of determination in her eye, as if, no matter what she would ensure that she was not a hindrance to her team.

And speaking of her team he could see that both Uchiha shinobi seemed to be emotionless on the surface but they too held a determination in them. However, the older one appeared to be more cheerful and talkative from what information had been gathered on them. Either way, they would be monitored and observed for any suspicious or hostile actions. One could never be safe on these matters. That is to say, they would not be the only ones watched, the other teams would be too.

* * *

By the time they had reached the Demon Desert, they were tired to an extent but Yume wouldn't let that bother her for the moment. She was itching for the second part to begin but couldn't do anything about it. It would appear they would have to wait a bit longer, just a bit more and they would begin.

As she stared out of the circular window of the room she had been assigned she wondered how things would turn out. It was sandy as one could expect but she understood some logical problems they may encounter. Scorpions would be one, if they didn't stay hydrated and cool enough they could get heat stroke, possibilities of Sandstorms, and quicksand. There could be others but she couldn't think of what at the top of her head at the moment.

Another thing that was on her mind was the fact that it would be like that they would be targeted seeing as they were quite young, painting them as targets.

"Tch. But we're not as weak as we look." She muttered to herself as closed her eyes. She then sighed and once more went to bed. She would need all the rest she could get, ignoring the soreness her body felt. It took a while but eventually she drifted off to sleep.

* * *

The next morning she was rudely awakened by Shisui, who slammed her door open. "Yume-chan! Time to wake up!" He then proceeded to take off the covers from her bed all the while holding a tired looking Itachi in one hand. Itachi practically glaring daggers at him.

Yume groaned. "Ugh...fine. Just give me some space. I'll be done changing in a few." She got up sluggishly and stretched. She then saw Itachi was trying to crawl into her bed, probably wanting to rest a bit, but Shisui wasn't having any of that. She rolled her eyes, and went into the bathroom and changed into one of her other similar outfits she was wearing. Frowning she wondered if they would be given any breakfast but she dashed that thought away. It was unlikely, and she began to wonder if she had enough water for this. Hopefully she did, and when she came out of her room she went to check, but not before noting that Itachi had successfully managed to crawl onto her bed with Shisui on the ground a bit bruised.

She sweatdropped and shook her head, amused by it, and checked her three canteens. Frowning she noted that only one was full, the second one was half full, and the last one was empty. Pursing her lips she sighed, knowing she would have to refill it from the tap in the restroom provided to them with the room. So she did so, and began to hum the Namimori Middle Anthem again.

Smiling slightly, she watched as Shisui was trying to get Itachi up from the open door of the restroom. Chuckling softly, she rolled her eyes. "Shisui, just stop, you're going to annoy the other participants by all the noise you're making. You probably woke some too."

"But Yume-chan, he needs to get up now."

"Yeah I know. " She sighed as she saw that the sky was beginning to lighten. "But waking him like that won't help any. You'll only get hurt and we'll have a grumpy companion for the first part of the day."

"Well what do you propose we do, huh?"

"Bribe him."

"With?"

"Dango, lots and lots of dango. Well at least till we get back to Konoha." She stated as she went towards Itachi. "Itachi-kun." She shook him lightly until he opened his eyes, and he gave her a slight glare. "Don't give me that look." She rolled her eyes and continued. "Look, if you get up now I promise that when we get back to Konoha I'll buy you as much dango as you want for a week."

That seemed to bring him to alertness a bit and he seemed to mull things for a moment. "Two." Was all he said and she said.

"Fine, two, but please get up now." He nodded and sat up reluctantly and she saw that his hair was sticking up a bit. Sighing she began to comb his hair with the comb she had used earlier while she had been changing. It didn't take long and by the time she was done she knew it wouldn't be long before the exam would begin.

"Well, we better get going now." She said to Shisui who had become quiet for a moment and Itachi who was staring at nothing infront of him."We'd better find where we'll be starting the second round.

At that they both nodded and she made sure she hadn't left anything in her room. She didn't worry for Itachi and Shisui because she knew despite the fact that Itachi might not be a morning person, he would still have packed everything. It also helped that Shisui would have double checked to be sure.

As they headed for the top of the stone fort, where they had been they had been given a scroll. Then they were pointed towards a certain spot and that was that. As the sun began to peak out of the sky, they heard one of the procter's say. "Begin!"

They all jumped from the height soon after and began to run. Each and every team headed towards the same direction the center. The had been given equal amount of space from other teams, so no one could interfere with one another so early in the round.

Yume, Itachi, and Shisui ran without interference, minus the two quicksands they had encountered, for at least two hours before they decided to take a small break. They had covered a lot of distance in such a short time but they could tell this place was large so it would be a long while before they could reach the center.

As Yume looked around her, she could say that all she saw was sand, sand, and more sand. Well, sand and rocks too. Not really much to note though.

She frowned for a moment before looking towards Itachi and Shisui. They both didn't appear to be out of breath, but the scorching hot sun would eventually begin to take a toll on them if they overworked their bodies too much.

_Always watch out for your friends and family Bakayume. _

Hearing Reborn's voice had her eyes harden. Of course she would look out for them, they were her teammates and friends after all. After a few more minutes they began to run again. However this time after half an hour of running they encountered their first challenge.

As the sand seemed to rise upwards they got their first look at one of the dangers in the Demon Desert. Yume's eyes widened as she took a step back and tensed. Shisui and Itachi did the same. "Is that-" She began to say only to have Shisui finish her question.

"A scorpion? It's huge!" Shisui exclaimed as it towered over them like a giant. Which it was, it was a giant scorpions.

'Damn. I thought the scorpions we might encounter would be smaller. Not to mention how is that biologically possible? I've never know for a scorpion to get that big!' Yume exclaimed in her head. She and her teammates jumped back as the tail of the scorpions striked towards them and it jabbed one of its pincers too. Instinctively she threw some of her shuriken towards it only for it to bounce off uselessly. 'Crap, and I don't think my water jutsu's will be able to do much to it either.'

Shisui and Itachi seeing that weaponry was useless looked at each other and nodded.

"Yume-san, me and Shisui will be using one of our fire releases. Please be careful and make sure not to get caught in the line of fire." Itachi said seriously.

"Alright, I'll see if I ca-" Her answer was cut off as another giant scorpion appeared. "Oh you have to be kidding me!"

Itachi gritted his teeth and jumped as a pincer headed towards him. Shisui did the same while Yume backflipped as the second giant scorpion jabbed a pincer towards her.

'One was bad enough, but two!' She gritted her teeth and she saw that both Shisui and Itachi were launching their fire release: Great Fireball Technique.

Both attacks combined seemed to have done some damage to it but it was still alive and the other one was heading towards them to attack.

'To think I have to use this now rather than later.' She thought angrily as she took out her vongola lightning box, and lit it up her ring. 'Thankfully I put it on earlier.' With a slight crackling noise as the flames around her ring lit, she connected the box to her ring. The box as it opened emitted the same noise and soon both Rai and Jin were in her hands.

Her eyes sharpened and she jumped standing between in between Itachi and Shisui. As the pincers were getting close to them Shisui and Itachi jumped up, eyes widening as they saw Yume.

"Yume get out of there!" Shisui called out. She ignored those shouts as she concentrated her flames into Rai and Jin. At her lack of response both Itachi and Shisui frowned and began to form the handsigns of the fireball jutsu.

"Elettrico…"

**M:And that's all for now! Truthfully this is only about half of the chapter that I was planning on writing since it was longer than I thought it would be. But the rest should be out soon. Well, anyways I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Till next time, ^-^**


	21. Chapter 21

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or KHR.**

* * *

"_Yume get out of there!" Shisui called out. She ignored those shouts as she concentrated her flames into Rai and Jin. At her lack of response both Itachi and Shisui frowned and began to form the handsigns of the fireball jutsu._

"_Elettrico…"_

* * *

_Chunin Exams Part 2 Cont._

"Elettrico…"Yume began to say as she focused her lightning flames into both weapons, lighting brighter and brighter as the pinchers drew even closer. "Fascio!" Two large greenish white beams, with sparks of lightning circling around it, shot from Rai and Jin at both giant scorpions.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!" Both Itachi and Shisui yelled as they released two large fireballs, Itachi towards the one to the left and Shisui to the right. The two giant scorpions then stopped moving and as the fell onto the ground they made a loud noise. All in all, by the time they were back on the ground the scorpions were electrocuted and burned to a crisp.

Both boys then turned to look at Yume, earlier they didn't really have much time to think about what she had done. "Yume-chan what the hell were you thinking?" Shisui asked exasperatedly as he gave her a look, despite his usual cheerful face. "You could have gotten seriously hurt."

"But I didn't and I know what I was doing. I haven't been training this long for nothing Shisui-kun." She shot back as she gave him a blank gaze. Itachi frowned and turned to look at the two corpses of the giant scorpion left.

"You...you..ugh. You never tell us anything." Shisui muttered dejectedly. Yume sighed as she shook her head. "I'm sorry ok? I just didn't have time to explain, plus I couldn't let you all do everything by yourselves. "

"Yume-san…" Itachi began to ask as he turned to look back at her."That jutsu...what was it exactly?" He then noted the two guns in her hand. "And what are those?"

"Huh? Oh, hey!" Shisui exclaimed in wonder. "I've never seen anything like it before. What are they?"

"Ah…you mean Rai and Jin." Yume said and they gave her puzzled looks. She blushed slightly, when she explained. "That's the names I gave them. Um...how should I put this? Hm." She looked up in thought. "Well they're weapons designed specifically for me. My family made them for me."

"How do they work? And more importantly how did they give them to you? I thought you didn't know where they were?" Shisui asked his eyes narrowing, and looking at her suspiciously for a moment. Itachi frowning at those questions and wondering the same.

She sighed. 'This is exactly why I didn't want to use them till later. Gives me more time to avoid these questions.'

"I don't know where they are, that is the truth. As for how I got them and how they work…" She took out both vongola boxes. "I got them from this green box. I've had them ever since I arrived in Konoha. They were given to me by my family."

Itachi looked at the boxes curiously. "They are like summoning scrolls?" He asked and she nodded. "Sort of, but not exactly."

"What do you mean?" Itachi asked.

"Well, for one they are only able to hold one thing or two I suppose in this case. Meaning I can't store anything other than Rai and Jin in their box." At that Itachi raised his eyebrow. "How is that?"

"I don't know." She shrugged. " However the box is also affected by the type of fl- energy I focus into it. I used lightning to activate and use them." She explained thankful that both Shisui and Itachi didn't catch the slight slip up in the beginning.

"What about the other one?" Shisui asked as he pointed to the white box.

"I don't know, still haven't figured what elements match it yet, nor do I know if I could manage to use them at the moment." She said truthfully, because she still wasn't sure which elements would equate to the snow flames required to open that box. Nor did she know if she had the elements that could be used to provide a plausible answer for using them.

"Hm. I see…" Shisui said in thought as Itachi continued looking at the boxes once more. "Well...what else can you tell us about Rai and Jin?" Yume gave Shisui an annoyed look.

"Okay, but not everything. I don't want to give everything away since it's possible we might end up fighting against each other later on. Either way, if we do or don't I'll explain the other things later on."

"Well the attack I used right now required that I focus the element of lightning into them. By concentrating I got to store enough and fired a large lightning beam at them. These weapons use the energy for attacks, so without out that it's somewhat useless. Unless you use to knock someone out. Also it's mainly used as a long range weapon but can be used up close as well." She said and as an after thought added.. "I can also make it so I don't have to shoot such a large amount either."

"Ah speaking of which. Didn't using all that much chakra drain you?" Shisui asked. Yume shook her head. "Sort of. Although it's highly unlikely I'll be able to use it for a while. The force of the beams kinda takes a toll on my arms." She admitted as she rolled her arms in a circular motion. Both Itachi and Shisui frowned at that but didn't comment on it. Yume then put away Rai and Jin in their box and they went back in a white with a pale green light into the box.

"We should be going now. The beams will have attracted attention from other teams and might decide to get rid of us here and now. Not to mention we've wasted enough time as it is here when I was explaining."

"Right." They both said and began to run again. As they ran Shisui couldn't help but to ask something that he had begun to wonder. "Hey, Yume?"

"Hm?"

"Why didn't you just jump and shoot your beams from there? It could have been safer." He asked and gave her a look as they ran with her to his left, while Itachi watched them from the corner of his eye as he was in front of them. Yume gave him a look and said dryly. "And have a risk that it might collapse the ground and have us fall? Yeah, as if I would want that to happen."

"Oh, that's true...heh well I guess you're training hasn't been for nothing. Look at the type of attack you can use now." He said cheerfully while she rolled her eyes.

'Truthfully, I have been capable of using an attack like that before. Except that I lost all that training that it required to get there when I arrived in this world.'She thought to herself and frowned when she noticed faint chakra signatures heading their way.

"Itachi-kun, Shisui-kun, we have company." She said. "One squad heading our way from South-East of us." Itachi gave her a nod, and Shisui turned his head slightly in that direction.

"I don't see them yet, they must still be a ways behind." Shisui muttered.

"Shisui, Yume-san, we'll keep running forward however, be prepared to engage battle." Itachi stated. He narrowed his eyes slightly, and began to think of the possibility of outrunning them, and if that didn't work, a way for them to win the confrontation without killing them.

"Hai!" Both Shisui and Yume responded. As they continued to run Yume sensed that they were drawing nearer. "They're approaching us, they should be visible in about a minute or two, in attacking range in about three."

"It seems we won't be able to avoid confrontation." Itachi murmured. "We will continue going on ahead, if we stop they will get suspicious. Be alert and ready to dodge any attacks."

"Right!"

"Of course Itachi-Chan!"

Exactly as she had predicted in three minutes they were within attacking distance kunai and Shuriken flew past them. However they were ready for that and jumped out of the way. Yume and Shisui already with a kunai in hand and Itachi threw two shuriken back to block two more incoming projectiles.

"Well, well. Seems like the kiddies were able to block that." A smooth, rather feminine voice said. As Yume took a good look at them she noted that the one who spoke was a rather tall, ash blonde haired, with tanned skin and a condescending look in her green eyed gaze. The two behind her were male. Both had very dark hair, and also had dark eyes and a tan skin tone. Although those features were the same they looked a bit different, for one had long hair tied in a ponytail, and had three scars on his neck, and was smaller in height than his companion. The other was taller and had a broader physique with short hair. It was unlikely they were twins but possibly related. Yume didn't pay attention to their clothing and looked at the forehead protectors and saw that they were Suna shinobi. "Doesn't surprise me, but now I wonder which of these three kiddies fired that attack from earlier. It's doubtful it was the small female runt but the other two...Uchiha shinobi. Now they could have."

'Oh so just because I'm small and a female child you don't think I'm capable!' Her eyebrow twitched in annoyance. 'Che. I know quite a few 'runts' that could kick your ass.' She thought as images or Reborn, Lal Mirch, Colonello, Fran and Lambo entered her mind. 'Eh well, Fran and Lambo would probably annoy her before doing that though.'

Shisui seemed insulted on her behalf when she referred to Yume as a runt. However, before he could say anything Yume spoke, in a cold tone he had never heard her speak before. "What is it you want with us?"

"Eh? Seems the runt has some spunk to her." The female sneered. "And isn't it obvious? We're here to take you down!" She jumped forward and launched both kunai and shuriken towards them. "Gin, Shura, you take your pick of the two kiddies. I'm taking care of the oldest Uchiha!"

"Alright." One of them said, the one with longer hair heading towards Yume's direction, while the other headed towards Itachi.

* * *

When she landed on the ground Yume dodge a kick going for her side and responded with left hand kick of her own only to be blocked by the guys knee. 'He's good..' She thought but she ended up smirking. 'But I've known better.' With her kunai went to attack his arm, trying to make him block it. He did and she smirked, the male shinobi frowned as she smirked. She kept on going on the offensive with strikes that he kept on blocking. Making sure to hit some places here and there with her hand on his arms and legs. However he did get some good kicks and jabs here and there and it hurt.

'Perfect just where I want you.' She thought as she jumped back slightly, quickly opening the flasks of water for her jutsus and made a few quick hand seals.

"Water Release: Water Sphere!" A large but not too large, amount of water formed into a sphere around the ninja's head. It was a D-rank Jutsu derived from the Water Prison Technique. The ninja tried to jump out of the sphere but found out he couldn't. "You can't move, your arms and legs are paralyzed. While we were fighting I had been discreetly been using a bit of lightning chakra on your legs. The paralysis won't last long but it'll be enough for you to pass out." True to her word in a matter of a few seconds he passed out and she released her jutsu returning the water back to the flasks. She then tied him up with some ninja wire and turned to look at her teammates, she had been aware of incoming projectiles and if one of the opponents would be headed towards her.

She saw that Itachi was already done with his opponent and had tied him up as well. It was clear to see that he had a similar idea of not killing off their opponents, but he too look a bit tousled from the fight. 'It must be because of the amount of chakra he used earlier when fighting those giant scorpions.' She thought and frowned. 'And if he's tired Shisui will be too. But Shisui doesn't rely too much on jutsu's though instead…'She turned her gaze towards Shisui and what she saw confirmed her thoughts. He was weathering down his opponent, Shisui was quick, and planted quick and swift attacks, which the female he was fighting good but not good enough. Soon Shisui had tired her enough to knock her out with a strike to her neck striking some nerves. She couldn't exactly recall what those nerves were called but it effectively knocked her out.

"Yume, Shisui bring them over here. We'll tie them up again." Itachi said and both did as he told them to, and soon tied them up. They then again began to move forward, albeit at a much slower pace than before.

"I don't think we should light a fire. You never know who or what it might attract." Yume said as she sat down on a rock. It was already late and thankfully they didn't run into anymore shinobi. However, they still ran into some quicksand, and another scorpion. That was such a pain again.

* * *

She stretched her sore limbs and watched as Itachi, sat down on a rock beside her."Yeah, true. Hey Yume, I still have some more questions about earlier." Shisui said he got in front of her face. She gave him a deadpan look, and shrugged.

"Okay, what are they?"

"Well...how much do you think you could use them?"

"Hm...not much if I fire a large attack like that again, and it's unlikely I will use them against an opponent that isn't aiming to kill us." She said as she looked up at the sky.

"So...if they are going to kill us you would?" Shisui frowned, never really having seen this side of her before.

"Yes and no, if I can help it I won't but if there's no other choice I will. Besides other than using the lightning with Rai and Jin I can also attack with it by focusing small amounts on my fingers. Not enough to kill but definitely enough to paralyze. Still that doesn't mean I shouldn't be careful."

Itachi stared at her as did Shisui and then sighed. Itachi then spoke, "Shisui, Yume I was able to get this from those Suna ninja." He showed them a scroll. "It's a small layout of the terrain close to the central tower. There are a lot of traps set, all except for the Eastern route. However, that route isn't without its set of dangers. There are naturally occurring quicksands around there so we would have to be careful." At that Yume wondered how he got that information and Shisui saw this and explained.

"He used the sharingan to put the shinobi under a genjutsu. Itachi used it, and got the information from him." Itachi nodded and looked at scroll.

"We're not that far from it but we're not following the eastern path. Tomorrow we'll go through that route by going forward and shifting slightly to the east. Unfortunately, others will probably figure it out as well. So we will have to be prepared to fight again." He said grimly, and she saw the reluctance in his eyes about the thought of fighting. Sighing she nodded her head. "Okay, and as much as I'd like to stay up, maybe we should rest now so we can get a head start tomorrow." She said and shivered slightly, compared to the scorching hot sun that had made them sweat so much earlier, it was getting very chilly now.

"We should...Okay then!" Shisui then held both Itachi and Yume close to him and they both gave him unamused looks. "We need to conserve heat and since we can't light a fire we'll huddle and sleep together. At that Yume, tilted her head a bit and sighed knowing he had a point. Ignoring the smell of sweat that they all had she opened one of her summoning scrolls and summoned the blankets she had prepared. Itachi did the same, as did shisui. Thankfully the tan colored blankets were large enough to cover them completely as they lay under. Slowly they fell asleep, ignoring the smell of their sweat. Quietly Yume said, "Goodnight Itachi-kun...Shisui-kun."

* * *

"It's almost as if they have a lock on us." Yume muttered the next day as they fought against their third team of opponents from another village. Thankfully, they hadn't gotten ambushed early in the morning and had made a good amount of progress towards the central tower. However, they soon had been attacked by another group of Suna shinobi.

They did the same thing as they had done with first team they fought yesterday for the first team. It had slowed their progress somewhat and had drained a bit of their chakra. The second team however, had been more difficult. Unfortunately, they had to be eliminated permanently. They were really focused on killing them, and they wouldn't stay down. That had slowed them down a bit more and drained them of more chakra.

Yume gritted her teeth as shuriken were thrown at her and she ducked and aimed a chakra infused kick at the male shinobi's chest. She found that made the attacks more painful. Looking at the headband she saw that they were from Suna. She then dodged kick aimed towards her head, and roundhoused kicked him in the head. The shinobi was young, around nineteen years of age she thought. Quickly she paralyzed him and struck the nerves on his neck to make him pass out.

Behind her Itachi and Shisui were holding their own against the two other males on the team. Both looking to be in their early twenties, and had very built bodies. Itachi quickly made some hand signs. "Fire release: Phoenix Sage Fire Jutsu!" He breathed out small fireballs aimed at his opponents. Shisui dodged them, his speed allowing him to, while the Suna nin seemed to have a bit of problems. That is until they used a jutsu to raise the ground around them protecting them with a rock wall.

Itachi narrowed his eyes and jumped up as did Shisui, and saw that they weren't behind the wall anymore. Yume then yelled. "They're below you two! Be careful!" Then two figures jumped up and went straight towards them, and threw shuriken. Itachi and Shisui deflected the shuriken and landed on the ground again. Yume threw some shuriken towards them and Itachi then proceeded to form the Phoenix Sage Fire Jutsu again, only this time he added shuriken to hide behind. While the Suna nin were distracted they failed to notice that Itachi and Shisui had moved away from where they had been before. It wasn't until they had looked in front of them to meet red eyes that they realised what had happened. And before they could even retaliate they fell unconscious.

Yume panted as she stared at the fallen shinobi."They...sure keep..on coming." Shisui nodded only slightly winded but still sweating all the same. Itachi wasn't panting but it was clear he was feeling the effects of the heat as well as the fight.

"Yeah…It didn't help that they seemed to be trying to pick us off and separate us."

"Well they succeeded with me.." Yume muttered as she finally regained her breath.

"Shisui,Yume, let's keep on moving ahead before they become conscious again." Itachi said, as he turned away from the fallen shinobi and looked on ahead.

"But what if they wake up."

"That is taken care of." He then pointed towards the teams scroll which was burned and cut. "They will be disqualified either way."

"Ah…" Was all she said as she regained her breath. She felt tired and the bruises she had received from Gaara, accompanied with new bruises from her fights, weren't helping.

"We'll keep moving and as soon as we're far away enough we'll take a break." Without saying anything else, he began to move forward with Shisui and Yume following him. It wasn't until an hour late that they stopped to rest. It was also around midday and the heat of the sun had increased. "We should rest up and try to regain some energy before moving forward again. We're closer to the tower and we should begin to see it today by the time the sun begins to set."

"Eh, so soon already?" Shisui asked as he stretched his arms and gave Itachi a sideways glance.

"Yes, but just because we are near doesn't mean we should relax. There is a chance that we might be ambushed." Yume stared at Itachi as he told them with his calm gaze. "Then in that case we might as well eat something." She said after a while as she took out some of the ration bars she had brought along, as well as three apples. Shisui stared at the bars dejectedly.

"Again? Oh man, do I wish we could get there already, I'm getting tired of eating this things when we have no other food." He said as he reluctantly began to open the wrapper. Yume silently agreed as she took a bite out of her bar, it was bland, and not something she'd like to eat a lot.

"It can't be helped, I'd rather not risk the fact of the scent of food catching the attention of other competitors or animals here." She said and her eyebrow twitched as she thought of the giant scorpions, still not knowing how it was biologically possible.

"Still doesn't change the fact that I don't like them." Shisui muttered as he then began to eat his apple. Itachi merely shook his head and smiled slightly as he saw them interacting. Quietly eating, the ration bar and apple, while Shisui then began to bug Yume.

* * *

By the time they arrived at the central tower it was really late, and they looked like they had been run ragged. They had encountered another giant scorpion, and it had been slightly larger than the ones they had fought before, as well as stronger. She had to use Rai and Jin again, and as they had done with the first two scorpions, electrocuted and burnt the thing till it hit the ground. Then they had been caught in some quicksand and they had managed to get out somehow. Luckily they hadn't run into another team but they had encountered some very well laid out traps. It had been troubling to not get hurt from the mines hidden in the ground, pits with spikes on the bottom, and so on.

As Itachi handed his scroll to one of the guards near the entrance of the tower, Yume saw that it was made of the same material as most of the buildings in Suna. It was very large too. Her gaze then moved towards the guards and noted they had a slightly surprised look in them. 'Do they honestly believe we are weak?' Yume thought annoyed.

As the guard checked their scroll, he saw that it was unopened, and hardly had any damage to it. He looked to his companion who nodded at him. He then looked back at the two children and teenager from Konoha and cleared his throat. "I'm sure it doesn't need to be said, but you've passed the second part of the exams. By you are the fourth team to arrive, and by the end of the day tomorrow you will receive further information on what will happen next. Until then you will have a room, one per team and what you do until then will not be our problem. From here until the next portion of the exams you are forbidden to engage in a fight. Is that understood" He stated tonelessly as the three nodded. Yume was surprised they were the fourth ones to arrive, "Then follow me." With that said, they did as they were told. Eventually they reached a room on the second floor with a wooden door.

"This will be your room, Dinner has already finished so you will have to wait for breakfast tomorrow. It will be served at eight, no sooner or later than that. If you miss it, you will have to wait for lunch." He stated not even giving them a second glance as he left.

'Well they certainly don't appear to be the coddling type.' Yume thought as she turned to look at Shisui and Itachi. They hadn't bothered speaking as they were being led to their room and now that they were alone. "Well...we made it." She said quietly as she gave both Itachi and Shisui a slight grin. 'Alive and in one piece too.' She added in her mind.

At that Shisui grinned. "Of course we did, did you have any doubts?" Yume rolled her eyes and gave him a slight glare as he ruffled her hair. "Will you stop doing that?"

"Nope." Was all he said as she huffed and opened the door to their room. As she went inside with Shisui pestering her she didn't see that Itachi was watching them with an amused look in his eyes. Nor did she see, that he had this thoughtful look in his eyes after he closed the door.

**M:Well there you have it the last part of this round of the exams. I hope you all enjoyed reading this chapter. Although, I'm sorry if the fighting scenes weren't that good, I'm not used to writing them but I'm trying to make them as good as I can. Well, until next time everyone!**


	22. Chapter 22

**M:I don't own KHR or Naruto.**

Yume stared up at the ceiling as she lay in bed, the coolness of the the early morning when the sun was up made the room feel nice. It was almost like having an air conditioner again. She sighed and turned to onto her side and saw that both Itachi and Shisui were still asleep.

Yesterday nothing eventful had happened, other than them going around and exploring the areas they were allowed to be in, as well as being told where they had to meet up to find out further details about the third part of the exams. They had enjoyed their time exploring and even found a nice secluded spot so they could train. It had been nice to train like they did back home in Konoha. She then stilled and her eyes widened at that. 'Wait home? No, Konoha's not my home it's just the place I reside in until I can go back home, with Tsuna and everyone.' She frowned slightly and her eyes filled with conflicting emotions at that thought. The thought at leaving had once appealed so much to her but now brought on emotions of regret and guilt. 'Why am I feeling these things now? I already knew this was my decision from the start, I have to get home. Back with Tsuna and everyone else...yet why...why am I feeling guilt, regret and sadness?' Even though she asked that she already knew the answer.

As she stared at Itachi and Shisui, she closed her eyes, hiding the pain and guilt from showing. She had told them part of the truth about finding her family. However, she never did mention how permanent her leaving would be when she found a way back to them. How unlikely it would be to ever see them again, or from where she truly was and why she had to go back home. 'I don't belong in this world...neither does Fran. We're anomalies and we have family back home who need us. Who care for us...who miss us. God, damnit! I knew that we shouldn't have formed bonds with people from here.' She clenched her jaw and then sat up. 'I need to go for a walk.'

She then got dressed quickly and stealthily making sure to carry all of her things with her. She would meet up with Shisui and Itachi later at the spot the guard told them to be. She needed to go unwind clear her head, try and not think about the consequences of her leaving with Fran when they did. As she silently closed the door behind her, she failed to notice groggy, dark colored eyes, watching her as she left.

* * *

The air was cool at this point in the morning, she could see that the sun would begin to rise soon. As she stared from her spot leaning on the wall, she saw that the stars would soon begin to fade as the sky began to lighten up. Smiling slightly, her gaze became unfocused at the scene before her as she remembered a scene familiar to the one before her.

**Flashback**

"...na...Tsuna-kun. Get up sleepyhead." Yume said as she stood over Tsuna, who was laying down on the sandy, ground. "You'll get sick if you lay out here without a blanket. Or instead of getting sick is it dying?" She questioned herself as Tsuna rubbed his eyes.

"Ah hahhah. Gomen Yume-chan." Tsuna said sleepily. "I got up a while ago and," Tsuna yawned and got up tiredly. "I must have fallen asleep without noticing." At that Yume gave Tsuna a sympathetic look,

"Reborn's training has gotten harder huh?"

"Uhhuh...He hasn't let me sleep for the past few days…" Tsuna yawned again as he sat on the ground and closed his eyes starting to doze off again. Shaking her head Yume went towards the tent Tsuna had been sleeping in and saw that Gokudera and Yamamoto were fast asleep. Gokudera was in a sprawled position as was Yamamoto. Lambo was upside down with his feet close to Gokudera's face, and if he ended up springing up awake would kick Gokudera awake. Smiling fondly, she quietly took Tsuna's blanket and got out.

Reborn had taken them out for training again, and surprisingly he had let them sleep in tents and have a lot of other things the moment they arrived. Granted they still had to set everything up themselves but at least they didn't have to worry about food, or finding shelter for the night. Still she had a feeling, he was only being merciful for now but then would put them through hell.

As she returned back outside she saw that the sun would begin to rise soon and that the stars were beginning to fade from sight. Humming softly she returned to see Tsuna who was dozing off, and shivering at the same time. She then covered Tsuna with his blanket. "Here I got it for you."

Tsuna wrapped himself up and smiled tiredly, but gratefully towards her. "Thank you…" He then shivered and gave her a tired look. "Aren't you could Yume-chan?"

She shook her head. "Nah, I'm fine Tsuna-kun."

"Okay…"

They stayed quiet for a moment, Yume just content to see the beginning of the sunrise and Tsuna was enjoying the small amount of relaxation he could get. He then heard Yume chuckle, and he gave her a quizzical glance, Seeing this Yume smiled and answered. "I was just thinking how things have changed this last few years. We're already in high school and have gone through a lot of things together. We've had a lot of fun things too. You guys are the best family anyone could ask for."

At that Tsuna smiled and chuckled himself. "Mm. Things have changed haven't they? However, some things haven't." At that she nodded.

"Yeah, like you still refusing to become Vongola Decimo."

"Ugh. Don't remind me. Reborn is still adamant about that. Can't he just leave me be so I can enjoy a normal life?" At that Yume rolled her eyes.

"Give it up, You know it's useless to disagree, besides good things have come out of it. For one, you're not exactly Dame-Tsuna anymore. You've gotten better and better in your athletic skills and people skills too." She smiled and Tsuna smiled a bit as well, knowing she was right.

"Yeah...Even though I don't want to become Decimo, I'm still glad I got to meet and get to know all of you. You're friends that I can never hope to replace." He said as he also stared at the sunrise. This moment was peaceful and he was able to relax, even if he was tired but he couldn't sleep anymore. Paranoia of what Reborn might do to wake him up if he fell asleep again kept him from doing that, Yume nodded at his statement.

"I feel the same way, I'm glad to have been able to get to know all of you." They once again remained quiet enjoying the peaceful moments just before the sun broke out of the horizon. The quiet was then broken by a a semi squeaky voice from a certain hitman behind them.

"Seems you two are very comfortable and wide awake. That's good because I have something prepared for you Dame-Tsuna." At that Tsuna paled, and Yume stilled and began to sweat lightly. She then had that ominous feeling, she felt whenever Reborn transformed Leon into a gun. It wasn't soon before two shouts were heard, for two different reasons.

"OW! YOU STUPID COW! WHAT WAS THAT FOR!?" And "HIIEE! REBORN!" Were yelled loudly and promptly woke everyone up.

* * *

She chuckled at the memory, smiling as she thought of the conversation she had with Tsuna. Although she then shivered, as she remembering the fact that along with Tsuna she had also been forced to run around the designated area Reborn had set up filled with traps, and obstacles. They hadn't even had breakfast when he began his torture session.

Sighing, she then moved, the sun was almost completely out and Shisui and Itachi would probably already be at the designated spot to hear the announcements on further announcements for the exam. She hoped that for all their sakes that they would achieve their goals and pass the test. When she arrived in front of two large doors she saw that Itachi and Shisui were there waiting for her outside.

"Shisui-kun, Itachi-kun. Good morning." She greeted as she approached them and Shisui grinned while Itachi nodded and both said."Good morning." By their expressions she could see that they wanted to ask something, at that she sighed and shook her head.

"Questions later, inside the room now." Was all she said and she walked in with them following. Inside she saw only three other teams and she frowned. 'Weren't there supposed to be eight teams?' She thought confusedly but didn't voice her thoughts outloud. As soon as they got in line that the other teams had formed the all faced forward seeing as the proctor for the second exam had appeared and was moving towards the center of the stage.

The room they were in was quite large, had stone beams keeping the platform up, and saw that there was another floor that was used for observation. Before she could observe any more details the proctor began to speak. "You all are the final teams that have passed the second portion of the exams. Surprisingly, as you can see there are only four teams that made it on time. As a result, there will be no need to hold a preliminary round for the final part of the exams. You will be given three weeks to train, and improve your skills, for in the final it will be a tournament to judge your skills. In this tournament it will not matter if you are teammates or not. You will be pit against one another, and between the two, one will advance. However, winning will not guarantee that you will be promoted, that will be decided by your own village. However, let it be known that during the three week training time, you will not be monitored. Therefore, if you improve or not will not be up to you.

Before any can ask, the three weeks of training serve for a few purposes. What they are I shall not explain. You have made it this far, and so you should be capable of figuring out." He then went on to explain some more about the tournament, in which she blocked him out as her mind began to wander. 'So we're the only four teams competing...so it'll be two against two, making six rounds in the beginning, followed by three...but then there will three competitors left for the final round. Hm, that won't be good for a balanced fight unless...it will be a fight between those three to find out who is the winner. Or maybe two will fight, while the third fights the winner...' She sighed as she then thought of the other factors of the tournament. There was a chance that she would have to fight Itachi, and Shisui, and with that there was no guarantee she would win. 'But the proctor said winning doesn't matter. Well, not really I suppose. So even if one doesn't win, if they can show what they are capable of, despite losing there is a chance they will be promoted. Still...' She was then brought out of her thoughts as Shisui began to drag her out by her arm seeing as she was lost in thought.

She gave Shisui an unamused stare, but was thankful that he had brought out of her thoughts. She didn't want to explain why she was just standing there, and clearly not had payed attention. So as Shisui let go of her arm and patted her head. She didn't bother to glare at him, resigning to the fact that he would just continue to do that despite her protests. "Isn't it exciting Yume-chan? We'll be in a tournament, and we might face each other. I won't go easy on you if we do though." He said cheerfully and she rolled her eyes. They began to walk back towards the room they had been assigned.

"I don't expect you too. I won't go easy on both of you either."

"Hn." Was all Itachi said, but she knew that he was agreeing to the same thing.

"By the way Yume-chan. You didn't pay attention to the last bit did you?" She gave him a glare and looked away slightly embarrassed. Reborn would kill her if he ever found out she wasn't paying attention when she should be. Saying something along the lines that information is valuable and could learn from it, even if it seemed pointless. Speaking of Reborn, she wondered why she hadn't heard that voice talk recently again.

Seeing that she had once again was lost in thought Shisui frowned as did Itachi, although less noticeably. Itachi gave Shisui a look, who sighed. "Hey Yume-chan. Yume-chan." Shisui shook her shoulder a bit and she was brought out of her thoughts again. "Oh...sorry. Did you say something?"

"Yeah. Yume-chan you seem to be going into thought a bit more than usual. Is everything alright? Did something happen" He asked.

"Yes everythings fine." Was her response but there seemed to be a bit of uncertainty. He gave her a look which she ignored and sighed.

"Okay. If you say so, By the way you sure left early this morning." She nodded figuring out that question would be asked. Her eyes clouded with guilt and she knew that they could see it on her face but she would not explain what thoughts had been going through her head at that time. In fact, she didn't want to dwell on them at this moment either.

"Yeah, I just needed to clear my mind is all. I suppose it hasn't really worked much." She chuckled lightly, stating the truth but not the whole truth. She mentally winced, seeing that Itachi and Shisui had this unconvinced looks in their faces. Forcing a semi-convincing small smile she further elaborated, as she spoke. "It also doesn't help that I might have to compete against you two. I'm nervous as it is, and it's hard to win against you two when we spar." This seemed to convince them that she was just nervous, which hadn't been her intention but it worked in her favor.

"Don't be so nervous, I mean I get what you mean. I mean, most of the time when we spar we win, but don't worry."

"Hn." Itachi agreed and then added. "This is a test of the skill you show, along with your capability in making decisions, as well as how you will react under pressure." At that she gave him a confused look, before he remembered that she had spaced out during that portion of the explanations by the proctor. He sighed and explained. "The proctor said that there will be observers, and civilians watching the tournament. By that one can also figure out that important figures will also come to watch the fight. This way each village can show off the capabilities of the shinobi of that are representing them. This also gives time for each shinobi to polish their skills." At that a look of understanding crossed her face.

By this time they had already reached their room and were standing outside the door.

"Yeah, also since you weren't paying attention. He also said we'd be leaving in about an hour back to Suna. We need to get ready and be there on time at the front entrance."

"Okay." She said and checked her canteens and saw that they were all empty. She sighed, knowing she would have to refill them, and also check on the supplies they all had.

* * *

By the time they reached reached the front entrance all three other teams were there plus Narumi's team and another team from Suna she hadn't seen earlier in the room. At that she tilted her head as to why they were here. Shisui waved over to them in greeting. They saw him and waved in greeting. Shisui went over to them and Itachi and Yume followed.

"So you guys didn't make it?" Shisui asked after they finished greeting each other. Narumi had a sheepish look on his face as he rubbed the back of his head and laughed nervously. "Eh heh, well we almost made it but unfortunately we arrived a few minutes late. As did another team." He then sighed as he hunched his shoulders disappointed. "They didn't allow us to participate."

"And who's fault is that? If someone had picked up the pace we would have been here on time." Akira said annoyed as she glared at Narumi. Narumi slumped even further at that and Akira's glare intensified.

"I'm sorry…" He said sadly and then turned to her. "Please don't be angry at me Aki-chan!" He got on his knees and begged. "I'm sorry, I'll make it up to you and we'll pass next time."

"Hmph!" Was her response as she turned her head away from him. Clearly showing she was angry at him as he continued to beg.

Yume's team sweatdropped, along with Masaomi at the sight the two made. "Eh heh, sister, don't be too hard on him. I mean, he did slow us down, but we're a team so he's not solely to blame, so please don't be upset. Also, we did face a lot of obstacles plus a few of those giant scorpions." When he had pointed Narumi's fault, Narumi seemed to get depressed, but brightened when Masaomi added the last sentence.

"Hmph….just this once." Akira huffed and turned to look at Yume, and the two Uchiha's. "Anyways congratulations on making it. At least Konoha will have a team to represent us. Still I'm surprised you all made it. When did you arrive?"

"Ah we arrived on the second day." Shisui responded and that had Narume, and the twins raise their eyebrows surprised.

"That quickly?"

"Our team specialises in scouting, also all of us have worked a lot on our speed. Shisui being the fasted while it's a close call between me and Itachi." Yume said and they looked at Yume and Itachi for a moment.

"Well that's not so much as a surprise. After all, the two youngest prodigies in the village would be able to do that much I suppose. Although, I admit I underestimated you all despite being prodigies." Narumi said, having recovered after Akira stopped being so angry with him.

"Yes...it would appear that you all are much stronger than I expected." Akira added while Masaomi gave them a smile and put his hands behind his head.

'Being young doesn't necessarily mean one is weak. You'd be surprised as to how a bunch of kids beat a lot of strong people, and those older than them.' She thought of the many battles Tsuna and the rest of the guardians faced before she also become one. She kept quiet for a moment as she looked at the other three competing teams. or at least their headbands. Two from Suna and the other from Kiri. 'Hm...' She then turned back to look at Narumi who was talking with Shisui excitedly about the final part of the exams. She chuckled lightly, and stood next to Itachi to wait patiently for the time they would depart. Masaomi and Akira, seemed to be discussing something with one another, and saw that Akira gave a glare to Narumi sometime when they were talking. However, that glare didn't hold any real hatred and she began to wonder who would confess first.

* * *

When they had finally returned to Suna, they were tired and exhausted, this time they didn't really rest much plus they had to fend off some more giant scorpions. Thankfully, the chunin that escorted them back helped in disposing of them, so she didn't have to use her guns.

As they made their way to their hotel, Yume and her team bid farewell to Narumi's team who had accompanied them until their paths diverged. Once they reached it they were stopped by their sensei who gave them a proud look. He didn't say much other than congratulations and that he would be needing to talk with them tomorrow before letting them go to their rooms.

As she opened her door tiredly, she bade goodnight to Itachi and Shisui before going into her room and falling promptly on the bed. She didn't care if she was dirty, and smelly. All she wanted was to sleep, and so she did that but not before reluctantly and sluggishly putting her weapons and supplies on the floor next to her.

* * *

The next morning she was woken up by Shisui who seemed refreshed and happy. "Good morning Yume-chan!" She stared at him for a moment after sitting up in bed before getting up and promptly shoving him out of the room.

"Wha-Hey!"

"I'm going to shower, change. Go away I'll be down soon." Was all she said as she then went to do just that. She took the one of the only pair of clean clothes she had left before going into the shower. She took a quick shower, and quickly changed her clothes, not even bothering to wrap her arms this time. Most of the bruises she had received from Gaara were barely noticeable and the ones from the fights against the other teams were more prominent.

As she went down towards the lobby she saw that her team was there eating. It brought a sense of deja vu and she sighed, making her way to order her breakfast. The line wasn't long seeing as it was still pretty early in the morning.

She had ordered the same breakfast the last time she was here, and made her way towards the table her team was at. "Ohayo." She greeted as she sat down. Shisui beamed at her while her sensei had a small smile on his face and Itachi gave her a nod. She could tell he was still a bit grumpy from waking up too early.

"Ohayo Yume-chan." Her sensei greeted as she began to eat. "I already told Itachi and Shisui that I will be training you all on separate days. On the days I'm not training you, you will train on you own. However, I will not train any of you the last three days before the competition. What you do on that time is your choice." She nodded showing she understood as she ate her porridge. "Although, I would prefer for you to train the first two days and the last one to rest."

"Okay." She said between spooning food into her mouth. He nodded and looked at them seriously. "I'll be training Shisui today so you two can go around and look for a spot to train on your own after you've finished breakfast. I would prefer if none of you caused any trouble and avoid any fights." At that Yume rolled her eyes.

"We never go looking for fights sensei."

"I know, that doesn't mean one of the other teams won't. Sabotage, isn't something that might not occur." He said and by then she had finished her breakfast along with Itachi and Shisui.

"Alright, I understand."

"Good, now...it would appear you gained some bruises since you've left." She hummed and nodded. "Some would be an understatement, Itachi and Shisui hardly got any." She mumbled, and he sighed. "Yes well…" Instead of continuing what he was going to say he got up. "Why don't you and Itachi go out now."

She gave him a look but did as he told her. Itachi walked next to her as they exited the hotel. They were quiet as they walked, there weren't many people out at the moment, but she could see that soon civilians would be out doing some shopping more than likely for groceries. The sun was also beginning to rise and it was getting warmer.

She sighed as they passed more buildings and streets. "This will take a while won't it?" She asked to Itachi who nodded. "Great…" She mumbled and looked at Itachi but before she could say anything she stumbled forward as she felt a weight latch onto her leg. Itachi tensed and stood in a fighting stance with his shuriken ready. However, when he realised that nothing was happening and looked at what caused Yume to stumble he blinked in surprise although it didn't show much on his face.

Right there, latched onto her leg was a small red haired child, around the age of his little brother. The young child seemed to have been someone Yume knew, seeing as she didn't tense or react badly. He then connected the dots, and realised that the child was the one Yume had met and played with before they left for the second part of the exam.

Yume looked at the child attached to her leg and she smiled lightly as she went to pat his head, but was stopped by sand. Unfazed, she greeted Gaara softly. "Hello Gaara." Gaara seemed happy to see her, and at the same time he had a worried look on his face.

"Yume-nee, you came back." He said, and she raised her eyebrow at the -nee added after her name but shrugged it off mentally. If he wanted to say call her that it was fine by her but she didn't exactly like that another person was getting attached to her. She decided not to show that on her face, and continued to smile.

"Of course I did." Gaara held tighter and the sand around him shifted.

"I was scared...Uncle Yashamaru said, the exams were hard and...and...people die." He said in a small voice and the sand shifted more. At that she gave him a comforting smile.

"But I'm alive, so you don't have to worry about that. Also I'm pretty strong, even though I don't look like it." That seemed to have calmed him, and Yume then realised that Itachi was also with them. "Oh, Gaara-kun, I'd like you to meet someone." She turned to face Itachi, and Gaara having realised that there was another person with Yume looked at Itachi. He then moved behind Yume and hid behind her legs, looking at Itachi shyly. "Gaara-kun, this is Itachi-kun. One of my teammates."

Itachi merely stared, before nodding towards Gaara and spoke softly. "Hello Gaara-kun." At that Gaara blushed and mumbled a soft hello. She chuckled softly and looked at Gaara. "Don't worry, he doesn't bite. He's a nice person you can trust, so don't be shy."

Gaara looked at the floor embarrassed before looking at Yume. "Are you busy Yume-nee?"

"Ah...well sortof. Me and Itachi are looking for a secluded place to train, but we can't seem to find one, or any of the training grounds here." She sighed and Gaara thought for a moment before he mumbled.

"I...I think I can help you. I know where the training grounds are."

* * *

"Eh, really?" Yume asked and smiled as he nodded. "Thank you Gaara-kun" Gaara looked down embarrassed but pleased he could help her out. He then began to walk away, and looked at them.

"Um...please follow me." He spoke softly as the began to walk behind him and he saw that the street that had began to gather with people earlier had cleared out a bit and many looked at them with wary gazes. However, there was fear and hated added towards him as well and he looked down at the floor.

He felt sad that they looked at him like that, when he didn't do a thing. Often outsiders came, and treated him okayish, that is until the locals warned them to stay away from him. They then ignored him, or avoided him just like the others, but there was no hate just fear from them. That hurt, but with Yume that wasn't the case. She didn't fear him, and she was nice. Looking back towards her, he saw that she was walking calmly, ignoring the looks they gave them, almost as if she was used to it. She smiled then as she saw him staring and he blushed lightly as he turned his gazed towards her teammate. The boy was around Yume's age and he was also quiet, but he didn't show much emotion. He seemed to be staring at Yume with curiosity in his eyes, and seemed to be in thought. He saw that Yume noticed this and she rolled her eyes before humming a song he heard her hum a lot.

Gaara saw that they were comfortable with one another, and that they were both so different from many people he had seen. He didn't say anything though and continued to walk. He then heard Yume ask him a question.

"Hey Gaara-kun, after this why don't you and I play while Itachi trains for a while?" He smiled but then frowned.

"But...aren't you going to train with Itachi-san?" He asked, and she smiled and looked at Itachi who was looking at her. She then rolled her eyes, and seemed to respond to whatever Itachi had said without actually saying anything.

"Itachi-kun I'll be fine, besides we need to practice separately, that way if we do fight against one another, we can give it our all, and try and figure out how to defeat the other. It'll test us too." She then looked at Gaara before smiling a bit. "It's ok Gaara-kun, I'll be training later today." At that he looked at her.

"Then..can I watch you train later?" She seemed to think it over before she nodded.

"I don't see why not." She then sighed as Itachi gave her a look and she gave him a blank stare.

"I'll answer your questions later." Was all she said and Gaara was confused but shrugged. It didn't matter so long as he could spend time around Yume-nee. She felt comfortable and nice to be around. It was quiet, all the way until they reached the training ground he

It was large, and mostly composed of hard ground, and rocks, but it was secluded and away from the other places. This was the place he was allowed to train and nobody ever came near here. He frowned and looked at the ground but was brought out of his thoughts when he hear Yume speak.

"Hm...it sure is different from the training grounds back home...er I mean in Konoha." She said and inspected the place curiously. Itachi merely nodded and looked at Gaara before bowing and said in a quiet but sincere tone.

"Thank you." Gaara didn't say anything but smiled, Itachi-san was nice and a good person. Yume then turned around and smiled at Gaara. "Yes, thank you Gaara. I doubt we would have found a training ground this quick if you hadn't appeared." He looked at the ground embarrassed but pleased he could help them.

He then saw that Yume was next to him and waved to Itachi. "We'll be back later. Don't overwork yourself." He saw Itachi nod and turned around but not before giving her a last glance with a bit of worry in his look. Before Gaara could begin to ponder on that Yume asked, "Now, what would you like to play? Hide and Seek again or something else?"

Gaara thought for a moment before he said. "A race, then hide and seek." He said excitedly and she smiled again, and he grinned. "Okay...on your mark." The both got into a running position."Get set...Go."

They then began to run and even though he knew Yume was going easy on him, he didn't mind. She was someone friendly, and comfortable to be around. She was also someone he could trust as they ran Gaara wished she could stay and be his friend forever.

**M:Please don't kill me for not updating sooner or getting towards the final round yet. It'll be there in the next one I promise also I didn't title this chapter because I didn't know what to name it and well, finally the final rounds of the exams will be in the next chapter. Also the meeting between Gaara, Fran, Naruto, and Sasuke will occur there. I originally planned for it to be in this chapter but as it turns out it didn't happen. Also the amount of chapters I had thought I would write was not the case. Oh well, anyways I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll try to post the next one as soon as I can. **

**animagirl:** I suppose I could do that, just not sure when I'd be able to get to it, first some time has to pass and then we could meet him. Truth be told, I had been toying with the thought of Lambo earlier on but I ended up thinking it was a bit too soon. Well anyways, I'm glad you loved the last chapter.


	23. Chapter 23

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Katekyo Hitman Reborn.**

The Day Before

Yume stared amused as three pair of eyes stared down at teal paired colored ones. She felt the owner of the teal colored eyes shift, and clutch onto her leg tightly. She smiled slightly, and patted Gaara on the head lightly, thankfully this time his sand didn't stop her. She found it odd that at times it stopped her but others it didn't.

As she patted Gaara on the head the pair of green colored eyes, gained a small, hardly, noticeable glint of curiosity. However, the blue and onyx colored ones, seemed to glare at him. "It's good to see you again, Yume-nee." The owner of the green eyes said in a tone that unobservant people would consider false, despite the words that he said. However, Yume knew that he meant it, and smiled at that.

"It's good to see you too Fran, as well as Naruto-kun, and Sasuke-kun." She said and that made the both of them who had been glaring at Gaara to turn and look at her slightly surprised as they saw her smiling, much more brightly than they usually saw her smile.

"Ah. Hi Yume-nee! We missed you!" Both Sasuke and Naruto said at the same time and they turned and glared at each other. "Hey! Stop copying me!" They both said at the same time again and Yume smiled more at that, she missed their bickering, although later that thought would make her sad once more, but that was later, not now.

Fran noticed the way her smile seemed brighter too but decided to ask her later about that and filed it to the back of his mind as he focused his attention to the red headed boy that was clutching onto his Yume-nee's leg.

He was around their age, that much was obvious but the dark rings around his eyes is what caught his attention the most. It reminded him greatly of a…"Tanuki."

"Huh?" Both Sasuke and Naruto turned to look at Fran confused while Yume just tilted her head slightly as she pet Gaara on his head. His hair was really soft, despite its spiky style. Fran mentally rolled his eyes as Sasuke and Naruto gave him a stupid look in his opinion. He then pointed to Gaara.

"He looks like a tanuki, just look at the black rings around his eyes." At that comment Naruto turned to fully observe Gaara and looked at him curiously while Sasuke just huffed and refused to look at Gaara.

The reactions from the other children caused Gaara to feel uncomfortable, and a little bit shy. He wasn't used to situations like this. Because of that the sand around him began to shift, and stir. Yume saw this and hummed softly, while continuing to pet his hair. She would let things play out and wouldn't interfere, Gaara needed to interact with kids his age after all. She also knew that they could take care of themselves, especially Fran. This would be a test of sorts, to see how they'd react to him, as well as to gauge their reactions over someone different than them.

Fran stepped closer to Gaara and began circling him, this caused Gaara to cling tighter to Yume, and glance up at her. She smiled reassuringly but didn't say anything. He didn't know how to interpret that and this caused the sand to become more restless. A fact that Sasuke and Fran noticed but not Naruto.

"Hey Yume-nee! Who is that?" Naruto asked rudely as he crossed his arms and Fran continued to circle around him. Yume blinked at that.

"Ah, how forgetful of me. I forgot to introduce you all. Gaara-kun, meet Fran, Naruto-kun, and Sasuke-kun. Fran is the one circling around you, Naruto-kun is the blonde one and Sasuke-kun is the black haired one." She said as Fran continued to circle around him.

"Yo." He said dispassionately and stopped circling around him and turned to look at Yume. "So you adopted another little brother? I have to say Yume-nee you always seem to adopt the weirdest people as family."

Yume sweatdropped and gave a look at Fran. "Wouldn't that make you weird as well then?"

"Eh, I'm normal compared to everyone else. Fishcake-chibi, and Duck-butt teme are proof of that."

"Oi!" Naruto yelled while Sasuke just settled at glaring at Fran while muttering something about taking revenge later on.

"See?"

"Right…" She said doubtfully and smirked slightly as Fran merely stared at her. Gaara had calmed down slightly as they interacted and the sand had also stopped shifting restlessly. "By the way...I see that you're not wearing your hat Fran."

"They made me take it off, saying something about me having to be inconspicuous. Plus they had me change into wearing these tasteless clothes." He said pointing to the dark brown t-shirt, and khaki-colored shorts, along with the ninja sandals. "Yet they get to wear the same thing they always do." He pointed to Naruto and Sasuke's outfits which were similar to the ones they wore since she last saw them.

"Ah…"

"Yeah, by the way Yume-nee did you know I found that most of Sasuke's relatives and those accompanying the old man have poles sticking up their ass?"

"Hm…"

"They really should take it out, less the suffer from constipation." All this he said in his usual tone of voice but Yume noted that all of it was said on purpose due to the fact that they were followed by some of those people but they were well hidden. Not that it was that surprising, they were in another hidden village and it was starting to get late. They would be watched at times like this.

"Well, that would certainly be a problem."

"Same thing I told them, but they just got angry. Then some of them started hallucinating about snakes, and other stuff around them. I noticed that some of them seemed tense but I don't understand why, do you Yume-nee?" He asked with a hint of innocence in his tone but she knew he was far from innocent.

"They probably thought an enemy was around doing things to them Fran-kun, however I doubt there were."

"Hm…" She then noticed that Sasuke and Naruto had been quiet while she had been speaking to Fran and took note that they had moved closer to Gaara. Gaara in turn had loosened his grip on her leg and was staring at Naruto and Sasuke shyly.

* * *

"Um...hi?" Gaara said after staying like that for a long while since Yume began talking with that other boy Fran. He recalled that he was one of the brothers that Yume spoke of from time to time and that the blonde boy, Naruto, was the other little brothers she talked about. She said they were nice, and that he kinda reminded her of Naruto, and the other person she talked about, but he didn't see the resemblance at all.

"Hn." Came the response of the dark haired boy, he seemed upset about something. Naruto though just seemed to stare at him as if he were trying to figure something out. After a moment he seemed to figure out what it was and reached out his and smiled brightly.

"Hi! The name's Naruto! But you already know that!" He said cheerfully. "But you didn't know that you're looking at the future Hokage -ttebayo!"

"..." Gaara stayed silent unsure of what to say and just stared at him with wide eyes. Naruto pouted at his silence and glared at Sasuke as he snickered.

"Way to go stupid, you made him speechless with your stupid talk of being Hokage." There was no real bite in his words but he said them to get a rise out of Naruto. "In fact, I bet I would be future Hokage."

"As if, we don't need a stupid duckbutt to be Hokage. I don't even get why you would be Hokage, I thought you'd just try and be a strong ninja." Naruto then gasped with wide eyes as he pointed his finger at Sasuke. "Wait I know! You'd try and make everyone be a stupid teme like you!" Images of people with spoiled, and holier-than-thou attitudes going around filled his mind.

Sasuke let his eye twitch a bit and crossed his arms annoyed. "As if. If you were made Hokage you'd probably have everyone wear orange, and make stupid rules."

"No I wouldn't!"

"Would too!"

"Would."

"Would not."

"Would."

"Would not!"

A laugh then rang out, and both turned to look at Gaara. He was clutching his stomach as he laughed as Naruto and Sasuke both yelled out.

"What's so funny?!" This made Gaara stifle his laughter and fear began to fill his stomach at the thought that he had made them angry. However, it wouldn't last long as the two began arguing again.

"Teme I told you to stop copying me!"

"I should be the one saying that dobe."

"Why you-"

"Oi. Duckbutt, Fishcake, stop arguing like an old married couple." The green haired boy spoke next to them and both Sasuke and Naruto jumped up and glared while pointing their finger in front of his face. "You shut your mouth!"

"See, you guys are so in tune with one another, makes one think you were meant for each other." Fran said and then he turned to face Gaara. "Anyhow, since you've officially met the two idiots, it's my turn I suppose. As Yume-nee said, I'm Fran, and I'm her little brother."

"Ah...okay?" Gaara spoke quietly unsure of what to say as he looked at the green haired boy closer and saw that he had some sort of markings below his eyes. He wondered if they were naturally there, or if he painted them on.

"Hm...by the way…"Fran spoke as Naruto and Sasuke continued to glare at him. "How did you get those eye rings? Did you put on makeup or something?" Fran got closer to Gaara, and Gaara backed away uncomfortable with the analytical glance the boy was giving him. It seemed more like a look an adult would give, more mature than any kid should have.

The sand around him moved in agitation once more and Fran noticed this. As Gaara backed away, it seemed to amuse Fran and he stopped stepping forward. Gaara glanced at the direction Yume was in and saw that she was looking at them amused. As she was Gaara gaze in her direction she smiled and waved her hand encouragingly towards the three boys in front of him. Not seeming worried at all that she left him alone with these strange boys. However, he figured she had a reason for doing so but he wasn't sure what.

* * *

Yume chuckled to herself lightly as she saw how determined Naruto and Sasuke were at killing Fran with their glare, and how Fran seemed to accepting Gaara in all of this. Naruto and Sasuke were too, in their own way and that pleased her. Gaara needed to have some friends around his age. She saw that Gaara turned to look at her and she waved at him encouragingly towards Fran and the others. He looked at her with wide eyes and she could tell he wondered why she wasn't helping him as per usual. She hummed and turned her head towards one of the entryways into the park.

'Hm...guess they got impatient and came to find me. Well...one of them at least.' She thought to herself as Shisui and Itachi came into view. Shisui looked annoyed and Itachi…well it was hard to say from this distance but she doubted he was annoyed. As they came closer into view she saw that Shisui seemed surprised by the presence of the three boys while Itachi merely blinked but there was a hint of surprise.

"Ah, I didn't know the little brats were here already." Shisui commented as he glared annoyed at the sight of Fran. "Or that they brought them along either."

Yume shrugged. "I'm guessing it's not often that the children are allowed out of the village?"

Shisui shook his head. "No they're are a lot of risks,usually children that are nobles, part of a merchant caravan, or in the unlikely case of a family moving from the village to some other place leave. Even then, they usually wait till the children are older, there's a lot of risk bringing children their age to an event or place with ninja of other villages."

"Ah…" Yume frowned at herself for not coming to that conclusion herself, although she wasn't entirely surprised that they brought the children. She was more happy than surprised but she wondered what they did to convince the adults to accompany them. She looked as Fran seemed to indicate for Gaara to come join them, now that Sasuke and Naruto stopped arguing and were seeing who could outrun the other in a race.

"Yeah...Sasuke probably convinced Mikoto-sama somehow."

"More than likely."

"Hn."

"Well Itachi's not denying it." At that Itachi stared at Shisui blankly for a while and then turned to look back at the children.

"Yume...I don't believe it is safe for them to play with Gaara." Yume sighed and turned to face Itachi.

"It'll be fine Itachi-kun. I get that you're worried for your little brother but they can take care of themselves."

"I'm aware but he doesn't have control over his abilities."

"Give Gaara more credit Itachi-kun, he's more capable than you think at times. I've been helping him quite a bit you know. He has more control than he did before. His sand doesn't lash out like it used given the situation he was in before."

* * *

"Yet the sand was moving in agitation, and could have led to him accidentally attacking them."_And you. _He left those last words unsaid and he saw her give him a hard stare. Over the past three weeks he noticed more of a change with her. He knew she was protective and caring towards Naruto and Fran but how she acted with Gaara was a bit seemed more protective and when he would point out somethings about him she would get defensive. He was not used to seeing that about her, and when he asked her why she wouldn't answer him. She would instead look away, with a slightly guilty look on her face. This would have made him suspicious if it weren't for the fact that she had been his teammate for a long time and he knew very well that she harbored no ill will to Konoha or any of its residents.

That wasn't the only change he saw, he noticed that she seemed more happier, relaxed even, and she was more sociable to others than she was prior to coming here. Although, he could tell there was a slight hesitance when she did this, and slight resignation. As if she didn't want to but knew that she could not remain as she did before.

"He's not a danger to them and if anything would have happened I would have gotten them to safety. I wouldn't let your precious brother get hurt Itachi." He noticed she left out the ,-kun, a sign he picked up on that she was annoyed with him. This was another change too, she seemed to show more emotion than she did before, not much, and not that noticeable to those that don't know her well. It was as if they were slowly starting to see more of the real side of her than she had ever let herself show.

"Hn."

"Tch. There you go again with hn. Is that even a real word."

"Hn."

"Hmph. Very funny Itachi-kun." She gave him an annoyed look. As she said that he could tell that her annoyance had passed as did Shisui who had been looking at them while they quietly bickered in something between amusement, and awe. He too wasn't that used to seeing her act as much like this. Being busy with training and trying to strengthen themselves, took time away from hanging out. For either they were too tired, or fast asleep to make conversation.

That still didn't stop them from picking up on the changes when they did see her and maybe that was why he wasn't used to it. A part of Itachi was also annoyed at the fact that the red headed child seemed to open her up more rather than he and Shisui who knew her longer.

Yume then sighed. "Anyways the final rounds are tomorrow, so I don't find it surprising that your family would want to see your match." She said and he agreed but he did not expect for his little brother to come. He worried about the risks in doing so but the fact that they weren't injured was good. It meant that they were protected well enough.

"Yeah...I will not be going easy on you if we are to face one another."

"Didn't expect you to. And I won't either, to both of you." She smirked at them and he raised his brow. "Oh, please. I know you've alway beaten me when sparring, but just like you I've gotten better. I won't be beat like before." She scowled slightly.

"Big words Yume-chan, Big words. I wonder if you can back them up." Shisui commented as his eyes gained a teasing glint. Itachi hummed in thought as he smiled at Yume. "Then I hope to have a fun match with you Yume-san."

"Of course we will." She responded with a glare.

"Hm...I wonder about that Yume-chan." Shisui commented again, and grinned as Yume narrowed her eyes at him.

"Tch."

"Heh, you know you love me Yume-chan."

"Sadly."

"Hey!"

* * *

Yume chuckled and Itachi shook his head and smiled. "Tomorrow, is the day..." She said and turned to look at the boys who seemed to be talking now. About what she wasn't sure."...Try not to lose too early you two."

"Same. I really want to fight against you both." Shisui said and looked down at the two prodigies. They had grown, both in height and in other areas. It wouldn't be too long now before they would have to go their separate ways. Yume more so than them. He frowned internally, at that and looked at Yume again. Sometimes he felt as if he was looking at an adult, not a child. Not to mention some things she said didn't add up but they weren't lies, nor was their any hidden malice towards any of them. She had opened up more to them over the years but she still kept her secrets close to her. Shrouding her more in mystery, with secrets and new found information.

This made the ninja side of him want to delve and find out more. Question her, try and find the information rather than wait for her to tell them. If she ever did, but as a friend he respected her well enough and knew she deserved her privacy. The secrets were hers, and he would do all that he could to protect her and Itachi. He knew that he wasn't the only one who picked up on this and had a feeling she did too but didn't say anything about it. More than likely she knew that if she made a wrong move, on purpose or accident, things would go out of hand, so she did nothing at all.

"Shisui…" Yume began as she gave him an odd look. He blinked and grinned. "Yes?"

"Will you quit staring at me. It's creepy." He stared at her for a moment his frown leaving his face for a moment. Itachi had stopped paying attention to them and was watching the kids intently. After a while he smiled and picked Yume up.

"H-hey! Put me down Shisui." Yume squirmed and his smile broadened. "Hm...how about no?"

"You'll regret this."

"Maybe."

"Shisui put her down before Fran-kun sees and starts to bug you." Itachi said having just focused on what they were saying but didn't keep his attention away from the children. Shisui scowled at the mention of Fran and put Yume down.

"That brat always has to ruin my fun."

"No he doesn't now stop calling Fran-kun a brat." At that Shisui sighed and muttered. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever, you say."

The rest of the time with Gaara and the everyone had gone by without incident and it was now late at night. Everyone had fallen asleep, and the Naruto and Fran had begged to be allowed to sleep with her, Sasuke would have begged too to stay with Itachi but he didn't because from she had figured. Uchiha didn't beg, or at least not in front of so many strangers, especially when his parents were around. As a result, he left sulking and pouting back to the hotel he would stay with his parents.

Yume stared as she lay in bed at the sleeping figures of Naruto and Fran and stroked their hair lightly. They were exhausted from having fun, and from their journey to get here. She chuckled as Naruto turned in his sleep and Fran muttered something about a stupid prince.

'They sure do sleep soundly. Ne, Tsuna-kun? I wonder how you all are doing, and I miss you all. But despite that I'm not so lonely...I have Fran...and others that care for me…' She thought to herself as she wrapped her arms around both boys and closed her eyes. 'You'd like them...they're very nice people…' Sleep then overcame her consciousness.

* * *

**Dream**

Yume looked around her and noticed that she was in a very familiar place. The simple, and peaceful looking town of Namimori that still looked about the same since her youth. She was in front of her Namimori was around evening and no one was in school at this time.'This must be a dream but…'

"It's still as how I remember…" She murmured and then the scene changed and instead of being in front of her old school she was in front of Tsuna's old house. "This hasn't changed either. Heh it's been so long since I've even stepped foot inside this place too." A fond smile appeared on her face as tears began to fall.

A hand was placed firmly on her shoulders and she turned around startled. "It's good to see you Yume-chan?" In front of her stood someone who could be mistaken as the first Vongola Boss, but his hair was brown and his eyes also of a brown hue but sometimes appeared a subdued orange in the right light. She stared at him with eyes wide.

"Tsuna...Kun? Is that really you? Did you guys find some way to talk with me through my subconscious? That would actually explain why I hear Reborn's voice sometimes.. " She asked while muttering the last part to smiled and shook his head.

"To answer your first question well...it's yes and no. I am Tsuna but not the outside world Tsuna. I was created in your subconscious. You are dreaming after all."

"Ah...yeah I should have figured as much…" She murmured a bit disappointed. The dream Tsuna noticed this and hugged her.

"Don't be sad Yume-chan, a sad look doesn't suit you at all." At that she chuckled and smiled at him slightly. "Okay boss, I'll do as you say." Dream Tsuna sighed at that term and patted her head. As he did so she realised that she wasn't in her ten year old body but in her former twenty year one.

"Ah I'm an adult again!" She exclaimed happily, missing the feel of being tall, and her adult body. Tsuna chuckled and teasingly spoke. "It took you how long to realise it?"

"Ah quiet Tsu-kun!" She bantered back at him and grinned. "Anyways I have so much to tell you!" Tsuna nodded. "I'm sure you do, but why don't we save all of that until we see each other in real life again?"

"You're right, by then I'm sure I'm going to have so much more to tell you. About the people I met and things I've learned."

"Yeah, it'll take a while to hear all of it. Everyone will be interested too I think."

"Maybe. I don't think Hibari, or Mukuro would be, much less the Varia. Well...maybe some of the members just to hear about fighting, although I think Gokudera will just be asking if I've seen any UMAs." She sweatdropped as she thought of the Storm guardian and his obsession with UMAs. Tsuna laughed at that.

"He would." He then looked around and seemed to go into thought. "Hey Yume-chan why don't we take a walk as we talk."

"Okay. Hm...you know I'm kinda surprised a dream Reborn hasn't appeared." She commented as they began to walk down the street. Tsuna gave her a sideways look.

"I don't think either of us would want that." She blinked and chuckled as she agreed.

"True, a dream Reborn might just as well be as terrifying as a real life Reborn."

"Yeah...he's hasn't changed much, staying as sadistic and cruel as before."

"A very good actor, and manipulator too if you think about it."

"Indeed…" They both fell into a small gloom at the mere thought of Reborn. It was later broken by Tsuna who had led them towards the park of Namimori. "How nostalgic." He commented and Yume nodded.

"Yeah...I remember this was where I was asked to join your family by Reborn."

"Hm...I also remember being injured a lot by him." Yume grinned at the memory.

"Yeah, although I did find it weird that an infant could be so strong...either that or you were just a big wimp." He laughed softly at her comment.

"I admit I was pretty weak but in my defense Reborn is pretty strong too."

"I know...and I never thought I would ever be terrified of a baby before."

"Neither did I…" He then looked at the darkening sky and sighed. "Well...It seems you'll be having to go so soon already."

"So soon?" Disappointment laced in her voice and he nodded. "Yes but we'll end up seeing each other again in some other dream. For now though, good luck on the final round. We believe in you Yume." He smiled as soon images of the other Vongola, and Varia members appeared. Nana, Kyoko, Hana, were also there. None of them said anything and all seemed to be wishing her luck in their own way. They then began to disappear and fade away and light seemed to be surrounding her. Before the light completely encompassed her she thought she heard Tsuna speak.

"Till next time Yume."

**M:And that is that! OH MY GOSH! I'm SOOO SORRY! I tried, I really really did try to update this earlier not to mention to make it the actual Final rounds chapter! But it ended up being like this! The whole meeting up with Gaara and the other boys was also going to involve them finding about his ability but it just didn't end up that way! Overall what was going on in this chapter wasn't supposed to end up this long but unforntunately it did. Also since it's been a while since I last wrote I'm sorry for any grammatical errors or a change in writing style if any. **

**Still I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I will start working on the next one as soon as I can but that will take a while since I'm busy with Scholarships, band, Organic Chem, college and those application essays. I am grateful for all you for sticking to this fanfic this long and I hope that you all enjoyed it so far. Till next time! Ja ne.**


	24. Chapter 24

**Disclaimer: I so totally do not own Naruto or KHR.**

Yume awoke with Naruto's face looming over her own and she blinked in surprise. "Na..ruto?" She asked confused as he then grinned at her. She sat up slightly and Naruto moved back his grin never leaving his face.

"Morning Yume-nee!" He said rather loudly, causing Fran who was beside her to wake up. He looked startled for a moment before he regained his usual expression. Although she had a feeling he was irritated now, and would do something to get back at Naruto.

"Ah, good morning Naruto-kun, Fran." She replied which caused Naruto's grin to broaden and Fran nod towards her slightly. Fran then got off the bed mumbling and she saw that he got his spare clothes heading towards the bathroom.

"Your very cheerful this morning Naruto-kun." She commented as she got off the bed.

"Well yeah! I get to see Yume-nee and real ninjas fight!" He spoke excitedly. 'This is so cool and it's so different here! So much sand and and- "

She chuckled and raised her hand up and Naruto stopped talking. "Okay, Okay. I get it." Naruto continued to grin and hugged her and she stared at him startled.

"You're totally going to kick butt! You're super strong Yume-nee! There's no way you can lose!" She smiled slightly and patted him on the head.

"I wouldn't say I'm super strong or won't lose but thank you for having faith in me." Fran exited the bathroom changed and rolled his eyes. "Obviously, Yume-nee won't lose Fishcake." Naruto tuned to look at Fran and glared.

"Stop calling me Fishcake!" Yume chuckled and shook her head at their exchange they were always like that. Sighing she got out of bed and began preparing for the final round her mind wandering to her dream. Even though the dream Tsuna wasn't her Tsuna his words of confidence still filled warmth in her.

"Thank you…Tsuna-kun." Somehow she felt as if Tsuna was smiling and patting her shoulder to reassure her everything would be okay.

* * *

She stood still in a line, in between Itachi and Shisui, along with the other contenders in the final round. Waiting for the match to begin. It was almost nine and the tension and excitement that filled the air was palpable. The tension coming from the combatants and the excitement from the growing crowd as they were filling in seats, some barely arriving and others leaving and coming back with some sort of refreshment.

Time seemed to be passing by slowly for her and the anticipation was making her twitchy and slightly uneasy especially since her foes were close by. The last time she hadn't really payed much attention to them as she should have, Reborn and Lal would kill her if they ever knew, so this time she actually took her time in observing her opponents. There were nine more opponents in total, not including her and her teammates. Three from Kiri, and six from Suna. They all appeared to be very capable and didn't' have a cocky air about them.

She didn't pay attention to their fashion choices however, she did observe a few noticeable things such as where they had pouches and other locations to hold weapons in. While also taking note of their type of body build and she quietly cursed herself for being and idiot and not doing this way before. 'Dang it, I will definitely be killed by them if they ever find out!'

One of the Kiri-nin returned her stare back. He was a tall young man, probably in his early twenties, had tan skin, dark unruly hair, and dark cold eyes. That was the thing that truly caught her attention and made her tense as she narrowed her eyes. 'The hell? He has such cold eyes, so cold and powerful, and menacing.' They stared for a while before the Kiri-nin nodded slightly in front at her and he resumed looking forward all the while keeping a smirk in place. She narrowed her eyes further at that but kept her mouth shut and looked forward. Itachi and Shisui watched the exchange and looked at each other for a moment.

"Someone you know Yume-chan?" Shisui whispered and she raised an eyebrow as if to say, 'Does it look like I know that person?'

"No…rather it seems I've found someone that I hate at first sight..." She said and watched as the proctors appeared before them trying to not let any irritation show. They were dressed similarly to the ones before and had similar features except on was holding a box. One of them cleared their throat and began to speak.

"The matches shall begin shortly, however there are three guidelines you will follow." She noticed how they emphasized the word will and guidelines." One the match ends when an opponent admits defeat, is unconscious, or is killed. Two any weapon or method of fighting is allowed, but any outside assistance will result in automatic disqualification. There is no time limit either. Now each match will be based on the number each contender picks."

"With that said all contestants please step forward in a line." The other proctor spoke and all of them did so each drawing a number and saw that she had picked number four. 'So my match is the second one. Great. At least I get this over with quickly.' She mused to herself as she began to finger her boxes. Out in the stands she fixed her gaze on where Fran, Sasuke and Naruto were sitting. They seemed to have gotten a reserved location, and seemed to have a better view. She mentally snorted, of course she shouldn't expect less for them. Sasuke was a clan kid after all and she made note of how the Uchiha were placed. If anyone tried to even do anything they'd be a fool by the looks of where the more capable fighters were located while sitting down. She didn't doubt either that the clan head or his wife were weak either.

Naruto waved at her excitedly, as he caught her gaze and that caused her to smile in his direction. Fran just merely stared bored at the rather flat, square arena, and at the contestants. Clearly he was rather disappointed by how unassuming it seemed, probably not even comparing to Varia level. 'Thank god for that!' Sasuke tried to appear emotionless but it was clear to see that he was excited to watch the match. This was probably something that kids their age usually didn't get to see. 'And with good reason, hopefully there will be no deaths today.'

She then along with the other combatants gave the slip of paper to the proctor, the proctor writing down the names while not revealing who would be who's opponent. They were then led to a waiting some ways away from the arena. 'Too bad Gaara isn't here…I think he would have also have liked to come.' She thought sadly as she remembered his downcast look when he told her wouldn't be able to see her match but he wished her luck. She sighed at that, she had tried to cheer him up but it had only worked slightly.

"Hey Yume? What match are you going?" Shisui asked curiously, and she rolled her eyes. "Second one. And you?"

"Third. Heh guess you'll see how much I've improved since Yume-chan." He gave her a smirk and ruffled her hair. She gave him a bland stare and fixed her hair back to normal, he noticed it had gotten longer and that she tied it in a high ponytail rather than have it loose.

"I've no doubt about that Shisui-kun." She said as her eyes fingered her box, and she smirked back at him. Thoughts of finally being able to finally to use her flames freely excited her, not to mention this would be more of a challenge than combating imaginary foes or huge dessert scorpions did. Her gaze hardening slightly with a bit of coldness, and her smirk became slightly dark, that it surprised him by her sudden change. "I'm looking forward to see how you've improved as well as Itachi-kun." Itachi merely tilted his at her change in attitude and nodded.

"Same." He said.

"Uh…Yume-chan…. I didn't you had a dark side." Shisui said nervously and began to sweat a bit as she looked and him and blinked confused. The cold and hardness faded from her eyes, and instead of a smirk she had a frown.

"A…dark side?" She asked confused. He nodded at that. "Yeah your eyes well..." He hesitated how should he say it. "They changed a bit…and well you looked kind of…menacing maybe?" He questioned himself not really sure how to describe the brief change and a look of realization flashed in her eyes.

"Oh! Sorry I didn't realize." She apologized and mentally kicked herself for letting her emotions leak out. Time spent with Reborn and Lal had really affected her apparently. 'Well maybe not just them…spending time around the Varia, Hibari, and Mukuro might contribute to that too…' She felt a dull pang of pain in her chest at that thought but she pushed it to the side. 'Snap out of it, now's not the time to be sad about that. No right now I have to focus, not to mention it's been a long time since I got here. I shouldn't be dwelling too much on that. I also have Fran for crying out loud, who knows how he feels about this too.'

She was brought out of her thoughts by Shisui patting her head. "Hey no worries! I just guess this a different side of you we get to see. Don't worry you're pretty little head. Kay?" Sighing she nodded thankful that he unknowingly brought her out thoughts that could have taken a different turn. " Anyways Itachi-chan when is your match?"

"Fourth one." Itachi said all the while he kept silent as he watched the exchange between Shisui and Yume with an unreadable look.

"Ah, so you're after me. I guess you and I will be fighting in the second round." Itachi nodded at that but he said. "If we make it."

"There are no ifs Itachi-chan! We will make it! We are after all the best." Shisui said half-joking and half-serious. At that Itachi turned away from Shisui.

"Hn." Itachi was looking at the first combatants that had been called while they were speaking reach the arena.

"Wha- Itachi-chan!"

"Heh, well someone's ignoring you Shisui." Yume smirked lightly and she too also looked onto the field and scowled as she saw who one of the combatants were. He was the Kiri-nin from earlier and he was fighting a Suna shinobi. 'Honestly, I don't know what it is about him that irks me to no end.'

The fight was rather dull in her opinion and dragged on a bit longer than they should have judging from the Kiri-nin's skill. She also observed the fighting styles both shinobis used. The Suna-nin seemed to be a mid to close type of fighter, and he also was also defensive. While the Kiri-nin was a close type of fighter, and was relentless in his attacks, never giving the Suna-nin time to get distance to perform some of his moves. This made her frown as that would be a problem, and there was one other thing that made her frown. The Kiri-nin used a sword but something about it, allowed for him to use his chakra similarly to how she used her box weapons. However, it was to a smaller extent, way smaller, but still as far as she knew such things weren't possible at this time.

'Or maybe they were…I just never new about it. Still…I'm going to have to be careful when I fight him it seems.' She watched as the Kiri-nin dealt the final blow, to the heavily injured Suna shinobi, with a slash of his sword and as medics rushed to the injured Suna ninja. 'Very careful, I'll need to keep my distance…'

From what she saw they're aid would be futile seeing as how deep the wound was, the poor shinobi would soon not be among the living. She noticed how the nobles seemed to stare at the Kiri-nin appraisingly, not caring for the soon to be Deadman. She could also see that the civilians in the crowd held worry for him, while the ninja did not, rather they were either dispassionate or pitied the man and his relatives. His Suna comrades from what she could see were the former, not seeming to care for the fact that one of their own was dead.

She couldn't help but feel a pang of emotion go through her that she couldn't name at the moment. 'Do they not care that their comrade is dead? Do they not care that a life was lost?!'She pushed back the outrage she was beginning to feel. She knew that death in this profession was inevitable, that dead was possible in this round, heck same could be said about the mafia and the trial to enter the Varia. She had also killed too, but it was always for protecting her family, never killing an opponent too weak to fight back.

At that moment she had figured out what she had felt. Hate. Hate towards these people who seemingly cared little for a life. As she realized the emotion she heard her name was called as well as her opponent. She noticed that the Kiri-nin had now returned to the room and was with his teammates. She headed towards the center of the arena, and stared at her opponent, Abe Katsumi, who was a tall young man of perhaps 19 years of age, had tan skin, startling green eyes, and short, light brown hair. She noticed that he wore a head band from Suna and made note that he would probably be using earth, or wind jutsus. She also made note that his pouches were on his left, and that he must have a lot of weapons too.

"All right, now that both contestants are out on the field you will begin when I say start." The proctor spoke in a gruff tone. "Remember the guidelines given to you, now you may start!"

'I better not let my guard down on this one either.' She and Katsumi both bowed at one another and both got in stances. "I wish you the best of luck Abe-san." She said politely, and he nodded. "Like wise little miss. Although I expect you will be the one needing more luck." She smiled politely, "I appreciate that but we'll see if that will be the case." She replied making note that his stance was defensive but was ready to change into offensive given the chance. She heard in the background Naruto cheering for her but she paid little attention to that, although she smiled a little.

They stayed like that for a short while before she decided to make the first move, quickly jumping back, while in mid-air, she threw some kunai, and throwing stars while channeling some of her lightning chakra through them. He dodged most of the projectiles and blocked one that was heading straight towards him with a kunai. With a hint of surprise, he also dropped the kunai and just barely dodged being a pincushion for another set of kunai, and throwing stars. "It would appear that I underestimated you, little miss. I will not be making that same mistake again." He said as he began making hand signs.

"Hn, shame. Things would be so much better for me if you kept doing that." She commented as she charged in for a strike to his neck channeling a bit of lightning chakra to her fingers. He blocked the attacks with his arms and he grimaced as he felt the lightning shock him. She then aimed to kick him in the stomach but he caught her leg.

"Shit!" She growled at that as he threw her up and punched her in the stomach hard, and she coughed up a bit of blood. "Heh, you're pretty weak. Perhaps you're more bark than bite." She glared at him and didn't respond as she channeled some chakra to her other leg and tried to kick him. 'We'll just see who's more bark than bite.' He dodged the kick while letting go of her leg and as her foot hit the ground it left a big crack. Not wasting any time, she leaped forward and managed to land some hits to his nerves on his arms and legs rendering him immobile at the moment. He seemed to realize that too as he stared at her in frustration and anger at himself.

Although, he did manage to land some blows to her legs, and stomach, so it wasn't a completely one-sided attack. Ignoring the pain, she focused on him.' I should probably use that technique now.' "Heh, now look who's more bark than bite." She smirked as she made some hand signs. "Water Release: Water Sphere. Ver. 2" Water came out of her flasks and the water made a sphere around Katsumi's head, and some of the water made shackles on his arm and legs with the water chains being held in her grip so he wouldn't go anywhere. By now the paralysis should be wearing off in a while and she wasn't taking any chances of him escaping, and ending this without any bloodshed.

By now she could hear the impatience of the crowd as the seconds passed by. Some were murmuring in discontent and she could feel the glares that probably belonged to Katsumi's teammates, and others were for them to do something already. She ignored that and focused on the fact that the paralysis wore off and that Katsumi was trying to break free. Although she could tell that the lack of oxygen was already getting to him.

"You really should have stuck with your own advice and not underestimated me again, Abe-san." She spoke as his movements slowed and his movements stopped as he into unconsciousness. She then released her jutsu and the water went back into her flasks. The proctor appeared next to Katsumi's unconscious form and checked his pulse.

"The winner is the Konoha kunoichi, Yume" He declared as he stood up, letting the medic-nins pass by him. The crowd clapped, and some cheered, at her victory. She could see that Naruto and Sasuke were one of those cheering for her, while Fran appeared bored out of his mind. Although, he had a sort of gleam in his eye as if something had piqued his interest. She shook her head as she made her way back to the waiting area, where Shisui greeted her in a tight hug while Itachi gave her one of his rare smiles.

* * *

Fran stared bored as he saw the match between Yume and that Abe person wasn't all that interesting in his opinion. He already knew the outcome anyways, Yume would win, even without having used her box weapons. Although, it would have been a lot quicker and interesting to see how everyone would react to the box weapons. He rested his chin on his hand as Naruto and Sasuke kept on cheering, however, it seemed Sasuke was lowering his cheers already. Embarrassment for acting less Uchiha like in front of a crowd, amusement was evident with the Uchiha adults around him what he could see.

The following matches weren't that interesting either, well at least for the most part. Itachi and Shisui beat their opponents with relative ease, and the other matches took longer than they should have. This bored him. 'How dull…' Fran thought as the fighting was stopped for a brief intermission and his mind began to drift towards the first match. There had been something about that sword of that Kiri-Shinobi, but he didn't know what. He figured if he was bothered by this then so would his nee-chan.

His eyes uncharacteristically narrowed, as he leaned forward with elbows propped on his knees, and his chin resting on the palms of his hands. He knew the fight between them wouldn't be easy. Yume while having gotten stronger, still hadn't reached the strength or power of when she had been officially appointed Vongola Snow guardian. His nee-chan was too nice, however, he knew that if it came to it, she would end things without hesitating. If only she wasn't too soft, he had a feeling, his boss would have wanted her to join, under Sousuke's command. Also the way he fought would have certainly caught the attention of his boss and the rest of the Varia, if they were back in their world. He was ruthless, and seemed to have a thirst for blood from what he could see.

'Yume-nee…this will not be an easy fight for you…' Fran thought as he the fights were about to resume once more. He failed to notice that Naruto was staring at him in confusion while Sasuke, was frowning. This was noticed by the adults but merely brushed it off as worry towards his sister.

* * *

"Your fight is going to start soon Yume-chan." Shisui crossed his arms and stared at the direction of her opponent. " He's tough and ruthless. His teammates also hold the same qualities although, she wasn't much of a challenge."

Yume stared at Shisui for a moment. "That was pretty obvious in your fight. Although, it has more to do with your speed than anything Shisui. Had you been slower she would have killed you." She said seriously and gave him a blank stare.

"Yeah, yeah. Although, I have a feeling her and him are on a whole different levels. His other two teammates lost while he made it." He commented as he uncrossed his arms. She nodded. "Best be careful."

"I know. I'm not an idiot."

"Yume…you'd better be careful and come back alive." Itachi said and she blinked at his comment. She was quiet for a moment before she smirked. "Of course I will Itachi-kun."

"Wha? Hey why does he get that type of response and I don't?" Shisui glared at them accusingly. Both of them just shrugged and Yume stared at him amused.

"Yume of Konoha. Sato Tadashi of Kiri. Please step forward, your match will begin momentarily." Yume straightened her back, wiping the look of amusement from her face. Shisui made an impassive look, while Itachi's face remained as stoic as ever, but his eyes showed worry.

"Well, guys. I'm up." She murmured while she walked towards the arena. Her opponent was walking beside her and he gave her a sadistic smirk. She didn't react visibly, but her senses were on high alert. This guy was obviously dangerous, and not someone she should take lightly. Not using her strengths at the beginning would be a grave mistake. 'Tch. Not that I didn't expect to use them after watching his fight but...I will not die. I will not let myself die, leaving Naruto, Gaara, and Fran alone, or my family.'

As they reached the beginning circle with an equal amount of distance away, they faced each other. The proctor on the sidelines raised his hand. "The first battle in the preliminaries, will now begin!" She figured he would toy around with her at the beginning, meaning she would have a small amount of time to be able to summon Rai and Jin. She jumped back and quickly lit up her ring, connecting the ring to the box. A crackling noise, was heard as she the box opened with a green light.

Tadashi merely raised an eyebrow, his smirk never leaving his face. He let the small child, have a moment to do what she wanted. Her weak, and low class jutsus would be easy to break, and with her using her lightning chakra, it would be a double-edged sword with what he planned to do. He had seen her fight, and it wasn't that impressive, and it appeared she was weaker than her teammates, but he doubted that was all she could do and there must be some type of weapon that showed the rest of her strength. He figured she must be waiting to summon out a sword, that would allow her to channel her lightning chakra, but when he saw what she held his smirk faded from his face.

He stared at her oddly, and frowned for a brief moment, before a wide, maniacal grin formed on his face. 'Those weapons are odd but, this just makes killing her all the more thrilling when I kill her even with those weapons.' He could hear how the crowed was murmuring at her strange, and very odd choice of weapon. She was in a battle ready stance with two weird objects, held in her hands, but no doubt, the attacks would be based with lightning chakra. 'I think that's enough respite for the little kiddie. I'll just play with her some, and then just finish her off. I'm curious to see what her weapons can do, but I have no desire to be defeated.'

He then raced forward, aiming a strike to her arm.

* * *

Yume narrowed her eyes as she held Rai and Jin, and jumped as he raced towards her, striking where she had been mere moments ago. As she jumped, she quickly charged Rai and fired. It hadn't been long when she had summoned her weapons, and already the crowed was talking about them. She had been lucky to even get them out, before he began his attack on her.

She cursed as she saw that he had blocked her attack, somehow making the lightning disperse in different directions. He was quick and again aimed to attack her. She dodged, and it soon became a short game of cat and mouse, however she was not keen on losing at all or being the mouse for that matter. She then stopped and as he struck she blocked with her guns and kicked him with a chakra infused kick. He was thrown a sizeable distance back with a bit of blood coming out from his mouth.

She thought she heard a rib crack as she saw the maniacal grin on his face grow." Quite a kick you have there, kiddie. You're stronger than you appear." She narrowed her eyes, not bothering to answer, talking while fighting is one way to lose one's focus during a fight. Something she didn't want to do, since she still wasn't up to the level she had been before. Instead of talking she charged her guns again, firing quickly, as a flurry of lightning shots flew through the air. Tadashi quickly blocked and cut most of her shots as he raced forward. Some though, had grazed him and burned of his skin.

"Now that's not nice. Saying nothing as someone compliments you. After all, these will be your last moments." He slashed his sword towards her and she barely got away, but he had grazed her leg. She mentally winced at the sensation and glared as he kept up with her. "Although I must praise you, clearly those weapons of yours are pretty useful long range, but not up close." He slashed again with her barely dodging. " It was just your bad luck, that you had to face me right here and now. For this will be your last fight in your short life."

'Okay, don't lose focus, don't you for the love of god lose focus!' She thought as she formulated a plan to stop him. A small, dark smirk, slowly appeared on her face, her light brown eyes darkening, unknown to both her and him as he slashed towards her once more, and wave of water flowing from the slash of the sword.

* * *

Itachi looked on worriedly at the match. Yume was clearly, in terms of strength, outmatched, but her speed surpassed her opponents, if only by a small number. Still it would seem in terms of endurance, for keeping up that long was about the same so far, but Tadashi was older, so it was more likely that he had more endurance. That and it was clear to see that Tadashi aimed to kill her, and was quite determined to achieve that end.

'Yume…' He felt a hand rest on top of his head and he looked to see Shisui watching the match. "Don't worry Itachi-chan, she'll be okay. And if it comes down to it I'll jump in to interfere, even if it results in disqualification."

"Hn…I never said I was worried." He murmured quietly. "And Yume wouldn't forgive you if you did that." Shisui stared at him for a moment before chuckling, and removing his hand from his head. "True. She wouldn't but- "Shisui cut himself off as he saw Tadashi slash at Yume once again, but this time when he slashed, a harsh wave of water appeared and headed toward her. Itachi narrowed his eyes, at that.

* * *

Tadashi smirked darkly as he rushed forward along with the wave of water, and slashed the finishing blow at her immobile and injured Yume. His smirk then faded as she disappeared before his eyes, and his sword went right through her.

He then felt something shock him in the back, and a burning sensation, before he felt his consciousness leaving.

* * *

Yume looked down as Tadashi fell, ungracefully to the ground, and sighed in relief, while holding back a wince from the sharp pain in her right arm. She was panting while still holding Rai and Jin in the same position where she had hit and shocked Tadashi. "Seems you were wrong Abe-san, today I did not have bad luck." She said quietly as the outside noise she had blocked from the match came crushing down on her hearing. The crowd was cheering, and she could very well make out, Naruto's cheering along with them. She turned to his direction, and gave a small salute and smile at him, and the other two boys. Fran merely gave her a bored look, but there appeared to be some relief in his eyes, but that could have just been a trick of the light, and Sasuke looked surprised.

Then she realized that she felt something warm and wet dripping down her arm. She had gotten wet when she was hit with the attack and part of her clothes had gotten drenched. Looking down she saw that blood was starting to drip down her arm from a wound she had received the attack. "Ah, just great." She muttered annoyed.

The medics soon arrived, and as they approached they led her and Tadashi off the field. She gave an annoyed look. "I'm fine. I don't need to be treated." She told them but they didn't pay her any mind and dragged her to a room not too far from the participants, waiting area.

She crossed her arms and winced slightly, at the pain. Now that the adrenaline had passed away, she could tell that her wound was somewhat deep. It would most likely leave a scar as well. 'Tch. If I was up to my strength and if this had been a real fight. The fight would have been over from the start.' She thought to herself annoyed as one of the medics took her arm and began to disinfect it.

She grimaced at the sting but otherwise didn't voice or say anything. Instead she took to observe the medic treating her. The medic was a man in his early thirty's, judging by his appearance, and wore red long-sleeve robes with a pale vest over the top. He also had on a white cap, and facial mask.

The man looked at her blankly and then spoke. "Miss, would you please put away your weapons. This is a place for you to heal not fight." His voice was soft, and smooth, not how she expected him to with his broad and rugged looks. She then blinked as what he said had her realize she had forgotten to put away her two silver weapons. She blushed a bit and quickly returned them back into her box. With that movement she began to feel lightheaded.

The medic seemed unfazed from what he saw but she could tell he was slightly curious about them but didn't ask. Which she totally appreciated. She looked in interest as his hands glowed in a soft green light and as he placed them on her wound could feel her arm starting to feel better. Although she also felt the entrance of foreign chakra and that made her feel slight discomfort.

She watched as her wound seemed to start closing and scab over in some areas. "Your wound wasn't that deep. However, it was deep enough, that it had to be healed and caused a good amount of blood loss." The medic spoke and she turned to look at him again. She hadn't asked about that. The medic went on speaking, ignoring her looks. "Therefore, all I did was heal and encourage your cells to regenerate quickly. It would seem it has left a few scabs. You will feel soreness in your arm as well."

She blinked and sighed. 'Yeah soreness, plus more soreness from my whole body when this whole day is done.'

"I'm curious." He muttered as he looked at her and she got confused.

"Huh?"

"Your weapons…they caused burns, and yet what should have left him paralyzed hasn't." He stated, and she shrugged. "It's not as if I wanted to kill him or leave him permanently injured. Although if that were the case, I wouldn't care."

He gazed at her some more before turning away to look at the other medics working on Tadashi. "You have control, and your movements…" He muttered some more. "You're no ordinary child are you?"

'Well finally someone realizes.' She thought to herself and shrugged again although the movement caused her to feel slightly more lightheaded. "Well back home I'm considered a prodigy so maybe that is why."

"Perhaps…"

"Well…. okay. I'm just going to go now…" She said kind of weirded out at the look he was giving her. That of someone who had just found a mystery and wanted to solve it. As she stood she felt dizzy and she grabbed onto the chair she had been sitting in.

"Ah. I should have mentioned, due to the amount of blood loss. You will be feeling dizzy for a while. I don't recommend you continue fighting or overexerting yourself either." The medic said and her eye twitched in annoyance. 'You should have mentioned that earlier, and no duh will I be feeling dizzy. Can't you do anything about it?'

Of course she didn't say anything. He must have said something while she was in thought as he handed her a pill. She took it and looked at it dubiously. The medic then gave her a small wooden cup, halfway full of water, and turned around. "When you finish leave the cup there."

She saw that he crossed towards the room across from the one that they had put her in. She looked back at the small red pill he had given her and she felt her irritation rise towards her own self. 'Okay. I should have totally been paying attention as to what the hell this pill does. And my headache is so not helping either.'

"Well…definitely not the brightest decision but here goes nothing." She muttered to herself as she swallowed the pill and drank the water. Reborn and Lal would definitely kill her with their torture methods if they ever found out how many damn mistakes she's been making her time here. 'I pray that I live through it if they do.' She shivered at that thought and noticed that her headache and dizziness began to subside.

She put down the cup of water on the stand next to the chair. 'Well, I better hurry or I'm going to miss the entire match between Shisui-kun and Itachi-kun. I wonder who will win between the both of them.' Walking out the door, as quick as she could without making herself feel dizzy, she would have to be as best as she could be before the final round. 'Sides…If I can't allow this to stop or slow me down.'

It took a while but she soon reached the waiting area and went to one of the open windows to gaze at her teammates. She ignored some of the looks she got from the remaining contestants and raised her eyebrow at what she saw.

'Well…that's a surprise.' She thought to herself as she gazed at the arena. 'And a disappointment. Damn, I missed almost all of the fight!'

* * *

"Itachi-chan c'mon! I know you can fight better than that!" Shisui remarked as he landed a kick to Itachi's arm as he blocked the kick aimed at his chest. Itachi narrowed his eyes as he retaliated but he missed as Shisui Shunshined behind him and kicked him on the back. Shisui smirked.

"Aw poor little Itachi-chan can't even land a kick on me." Shisui teased as Itachi he picked himself up from the ground.

"You're taking this lightly Shisui." Itachi commented as he striked again with a throwing star, but missed again as Shisui shunshined to the side.

"Hm. You think so? Then how bout we both get more serious then Itachi-chan." He said as he activated his Sharingan. Itachi also did and attacked again, making hand signs, as Shisui did the same.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!" Both said as the they formed big fireballs. The already hot temperature, increased as the both fireballs connected and merged together. Itachi and Shisui ignored that factor and landed on the ground before heading towards one another again.

Itachi threw shuriken and kunai at Shisui as he landed. Shisui only had a second to react as he landed and dodged but not before some of the projectiles nicked his skin on his cheek and arms. One had even struck his arm.

Shisui winced a bit and grinned at Itachi. "Well you may not land a kick but you definitely got me."

"Hn." Itachi didn't say anything as he dodged a kick aimed towards his head and blocked as Shisui aim a punch towards his face.

"Well…even though this has been fun Itachi-chan. I'm going to end this." Shisui said as he casted an illusion on Itachi before Itachi could react. Itachi tensed as he tried to dispel the genjutsu, knowing quite well to avoid the genjutsu casted by Shisui.

"Sorry. Too late Itachi-chan." Shisui commented as he saw Itachi visibly struggle before he slumped forward. "Looks like it's my win this time."

"The winner is Uchiha, Shisui of Konohagakure." The proctor yelled as he finished checking on Itachi. Smiling Shisui grinned and dispelled his genjutsu on Itachi. Although, Itachi would be knocked out for at most half an hour.

* * *

"Oi. Duckbutt. What the hell did that weirdo do to Weasel-chan." Fran asked as he stared intrigued at the slumped figure of Itachi on the arena. Sasuke stared, at Itachi's figure, unsure of how to feel about the outcome. On one hand he was happy for his relative, on the other his brother lost, but he had put up a good fight. If it wasn't for the fact that Shisui used genjutsu this time, Itachi would have one. At least that's what he will say if anyone asks him

"Oi. Duckbutt are you going to answer or no?" Fran didn't get a response and he debated over kicking the raven-haired boy into the cheering blonde sitting in front of them.

"Fran-kun. What Shisui used was called a genjutsu. Without complicating things too much, he cast an illusion on Itachi. Just like Itachi and Yume-san, he is also considered a prodigy. Although you don't really here that used for him much."

"Oh…" Was all Fran said as he stared blankly forward, but he was lost in thought. 'Illusions…Well…I guess that explains why Yume-nee doesn't want me to show my skills in illusions. I wonder if genjutsu is the same as the illusions I use?'

As he was lost in thought, he failed to notice that Sasuke and Naruto began to argue about the match and the sighing from the adults around him.

* * *

"Well Shisui-kun. Congratulations on the win. I'm surprised you actually won this time." Yume commented to Shisui when he walked in carrying Itachi, with her arms crossed as she was leaning back on the stone wall.

"Ah Yume-chan! You're back did you see the fight then?" Shisui asked brightly as he ignored the looks the last two opponents gave all three of them.

"Unfortunately no. I only got to see you win." She sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Will Itachi wake up soon?"

"Yeah. I didn't do that much damage to him mentally so he should be waking up soon." Shisui said as he hefted Itachi up as he was somewhat sliding off his back. "He's actually heavier than he looks you know." He said as an afterthought.

"I expect so." She commented as she looked at him. "You know…I'm at a disadvantage here. It's quite unfair that you know what I'm capable of while I'm being left in the dark about how far you two came." Shisui raised a brow and placed Itachi down on one of the stone seats.

"Eh, but you saw me fight earlier Yume-chan."

"Tsk." She clicked her tongue as she saw the look in Shisui's eyes and she narrowed her own at him. "You weren't even showing half of your capabilities and you know it." She accused and he grinned.

"I know." He said smugly and she huffed. "But I'll give you a hint I guess. I'm a lot quicker now Yume-chan."

'Yeah, and that's not much to go by but…' She rolled her eyes and rubbed her forehead again. 'I am so not going to win this. I just know it.'

_Giving up so soon Yume? I thought I taught you better than that. I don't accept quitters as students. So pray help me, if you quit I will give you a training session of a lifetime when you get back._

She stiffened as she heard Lal's voice in her head. 'You've got to be kidding me! First Reborn and now Lal?' She shivered and Shisui gave her a worried look.

"Everything okay? Are you getting sick?" He asked and she shook her head. She looked away from his questioning gaze and she sighed.

"No, I'm fine. I just have a headache is all." She said. 'Okay…maybe the blood loss and everything is finally getting to me and I'm starting to go insane. But…oh god. I can't give up in case she does find out I ended up quitting in something. I have a feeling for sure that when I get back somehow I'm already getting a torture session of a lifetime. I don't need two!'

"Hm…didn't the medics check you?"

"They did."

"And what did they say?"

"…" She was silent for a moment before begrudgingly replying. "That I'll be sore and that...I shouldn't overexert myself. Aka, no more fighting for the day. Well…I think that's what he meant and he did give me a pill that helped."

"Ah…you're leaving some things out though." He accused and she looked away guiltily.

"Well it's not that I want to tell you but rather…" She muttered the following. "I didn't really pay attention to some of the things he said and don't want to worry you guys…" Of course Shisui heard and he laughed after a while.

"Is that all?" He said after he stopped laughing. She shrugged and saw that the opponents were already fighting out of the arena. "You know, you sure are shy sometimes Yume-chan."

"I guess so." She said as looked back at him and then towards the still unconscious Itachi. 'I guess some things are still the same then.' Her light brown eyes darkened slightly, as she sighed.

"Hm…anyways. You'll still compete in the next round Yume-chan?" He asked while having a slight frown on his face. She gave him a nod. Shisui gave her a small disapproving look at which she stared at him and deadpanned look.

"Although I will admit defeat if it can't be helped." She relented and sighed. 'I will just have to make sure that no one ever finds out I did this.' Shisui still seemed to disapprove but nodded.

"You know…you can be such a mother hen at times." She said after a while as they both observed the fight going on.

"You think so?"

"Hn. I know so…Although you're not the only mother hen I've met." She commented and gazed up at the ceiling. Shisui raised his brow as he kneaded his hands through Itachi's hair. The shorty would kill him if he found out he was messing with his hair but what he didn't know wouldn't kill him. He didn't comment on what Yume said and looked at her thoughtfully. He already knew there were a lot of inconsistency and some things wouldn't add up about her background. However, there weren't ever really that many lies, mostly truths and deliberately being vague and not giving all the details. He would feel hurt if he didn't know any better but he did. Sometimes she would say small remarks that would give glimpses about her past.

Of course, he didn't push it and whatever he and Itachi would gather they would try and piece things together but there were so many pieces missing they really couldn't make much sense of it though. Although, what they did know was that she wasn't a sleeping agent, the Uchiha's and others would have already figured that out a long time ago, a spy, or an enemy to Konoha. In truth, what they could consider her was an enigma, and someone who is not an enemy.

He felt Itachi stir from beside him and he quickly removed his hand before Itachi would notice. Yume turned to see Itachi starting to become conscious again and she smiled fondly. "He's coming to."

"You make it seem as if he was under a coma or something." Shisui commented dryly and Yume rolled her eyes. "It might have been considering how your genjutsus are."

"Hn."

"And you judge me when I do that." She accused as Shisui smirked and stuck out his tongue.

"I'm an Uchiha. It's in the family." His smirk broadened as he saw her eyebrows twitch in annoyance and crossed her arms. They saw as Itachi opened his eyes and as his gaze shifted from Yume to Shisui he sighed.

"Seems you won this time."

"Not seems, did." Shisui gloated and Itachi rolled his eyes. Itachi's gaze returned to Yume who looked at them both fondly and amused. "You're taking the loss well. I expected that." She stated and Itachi rolled his eyes again and his gaze focused at her arm. His mouth thinned slightly and he looked at her in question.

"Sigh. You're also a mother hen I guess. The doctor said the wound wasn't that deep but it did cause blood loss. He recommends that I don't overexert myself and that I'm going to be feeling sore. Honestly, I could already tell you I'm going to be sore." She said and then muttered. "And I am so going to feel it tomorrow."

Itachi sighed and nodded. "Of course. You will be fighting no doubt." It wasn't a question and she nodded.

"Of course."

"Hn."

"Yeah yeah. I know, I will admit defeat if I can't handle it." She gazed up at the ceiling again. "You guys worry too much at times." This caused both Itachi and Shisui to shrug. They were all quite as they listened to the fighting going on.

"They're taking too long…"

"Well…they are both almost evenly matched." Shisui responded to her comment.

"Hn."

"…I hate you both."

"Hn"

"Yeah we love you too Yume-chan."

"Ew. Gross." She teased as she made a disgusted face and tensed up as the Suna nin beat the remaining Kiri-nin. Well 'beat' is to put it lightly that he critically injured the other. "Well looks like we're going out soon."

"Best be ready to lose Yume-chan!" Shisui exclaimed as he gave her a smirk and she frowned. "Ugh! Yeah, yeah. This would be a fairer fight if I wasn't at a disadvantage right now." 'Not that the world is fair anyways. Sigh. Well I guess I'll just deal with it.'

"Well life's not fair is it?"

"Whatever."

"Hn. I will be heading towards the stands with the others." Itachi said as he stood up and gazed at them. "Good luck on the fight."

"Thanks."

"Aw! Thanks Itachi-chan!"

* * *

**Time skip (Finals end)**

"Okay, it's not like I didn't expect this but ow!" Yume said as she rubbed bruises left by Shisui and the Suna nin as they aimed towards her since she was the weakest. Although, she did not go down without returning back the favor before she had to admit defeat. The pill helped with the headache and dizziness but it also made her start feeling drowsy after a while.

"Yeah! But I totally kicked but and won!"

"Tch."

"Is that jealousy I hear Yume-chan?" Shisui teased as they made their way towards the exit where everyone was waiting.

"Hn. You wish. I'm just upset that you just added more to my bruises."

"Well suck it up. It's part of the job."

"Yeah and don't I know it." She grumbled as they reached they exited the stadium. She saw that Mikoto, Fugaku, Itachi, the kids and the rest of the Uchiha were there. "We are proud of you Shisui." Makoto said as Shisui smiled gratefully and bowed.

"Yes. To have an Uchiha win, just solidifies the strength of our clan to the public." Fugaku commented as he looked at Shisui proudly. "Even more so, when two of our clan went against one another." He patted Itachi on the shoulder.

"I am also proud of you. Son. Despite your loss you showed spectacular strength and capabilities." Itachi bowed respectfully as well. "Your praise, pleases me father." Sasuke watched his brother and relative in awe and envy before turning to look at the other two kids while holding his mother's hand.

Yume watched them for a moment before being distracted by a bundle of joy and sunshine that was Naruto. "Yume-nee! You were awesome out there! And your weapons so COOL! What are they? Can I use them? Oh! Oh! Can I see them?!" He asked as he jumped up and down in front of her and she sweatdropped.

"Woah. Calm down Naruto-kun." She said placating as he stopped jumping but kept on moving up and down from the balls of his feat. "And to answer your questions, they're weapons handed down to me from my family. No you can't use them. And you can see them later but not here." At her responses Naruto pouted and before he could speak Fran interrupted him by stepping on his foot.

"Ow! What was that for?!" He yelled as he glared at Fran. Fran gazed at him with his deadpanned look.

"Sorry. I thought I saw a bug. Guess I was wrong"

"Why you-?!"

"Anyways, Yume-nee that was horrible." Fran said as he stuck his hand in his pockets. His emotionless face looking at her. "You should have also killed him."

"Hey that's not nice to say Fran!" Naruto glared at him and she shook her head.

"It's okay Naruto-kun." She said and placed her hand on top of Fran's head. "Thanks for worrying for me though." She smiled as she ruffled his hair with her left arm. He looked away.

"I wasn't worried." He said without emotion and she smiled more. "Of course." She then looked at Naruto who appeared lost.

"Why don't we join Sasuke and the others later. They already went ahead without us." She said as she gazed at the retreating backs of the Uchiha clan members. She didn't mind it, after all they were family and they probably would be celebrating in their own way, with family only.

"Ah! They did! That Sasuke-teme. Not even telling us."

"That's fine Fish-cake. The better for us to hog Yume-nee. 'Sides it's a probably a celebration for family only." Fran commented as he looked towards Yume for confirmation.

"More than likely, but that's fine. What I'm sort of wondering about is where sensei could be. He hasn't even come to speak with us…" She said in wonder and then shrugged. "Oh well…we should look for Gaara-kun and celebrate with him right? I mean I didn't win but I did get to the finals so that means something I guess."

Fran shrugged. "It's not like you know you've been promoted either." That soured her mood a little but ignored the feeling.

"True but I am alive no?"

"Sadly."

"That hurts my feelings Fran." She fake pouted and he looked at her. Not having seen this side of her in a long while. "As if."

"Heh." She picked up Naruto who had been watching them, afraid to join in the conversation. Which was unusual, and must have meant he was probably feeling left out. "C'mon Naruto let's go find Gaara." She then walked towards the playground where she first met Gaara. That would be a good place to start looking.

Fran followed beside her and gazed at Yume. "Ne, Yume-nee?"

"Yes Fran-kun?"

"…When will I be able to start using genjutsu?" Yume turned to look at him for a moment and then gazed straight ahead once more. "When they start teaching it to you at the academy." She responded knowing he meant that when could he start using his own illusions without worry.

"Well that's boring but okay."

* * *

To their great luck Gaara was at the playground and she yelled at him. Startling him in the process. "Hey! Gaara-kun!"

Gaara turned to look as Yume approached and smiled happily. She was bruised, and injured but she was alive. Not to mention happy to see him. His smile dampened a little as he noticed the two other boys and he looked nervous. Despite having interacted with them yester and knowing that they weren't afraid of him he still felt nervous and feared he might scare them off.

"Yo." Fran greeted while Naruto waved at him happily.

"Hi!"

"Ah…hi." Gaara waved at them shyly as he lowered his head.

"Ne, Gaara-kun? Would you like to join us celebrating that I got to the finals?" Gaara looked up hopefully, since that would mean he would be able to eat with other people than his uncle Yashamaru, but bit his lip.

"A-ah…is that okay? I mean…no one really wants me to go into their places or…" He said softly as he held his teddy bear close and she blinked.

"Ah…Hm…then in that case how about I go buy some food for us to eat and we can eat it back at the hotel I'm staying in. I mean if it's some other place there's nothing that can be done but…at the hotel they can't and shouldn't say anything." She said after a moment and Gaara looked at her.

"But…won't that cost you trouble?" She shrugged. "It's okay Gaara-kun. You're not a bad person or monster or whatever they say to you. You're a good kid, so doing all this is no problem." She smiled gently.

"Yeah, just listen to Yume-nee. I mean if we have to deal with this guy back home." He pointed to Naruto who glared at him. "Then it's no problem. You're cool I guess."

"Ah…then okay!" Gaara beamed at them and her smile broadened a bit. "Great. Now you three boys tell me what you want. And that means no Ramen unfortunately Naruto. I don't think they make any here." Naruto gave her a pout before his face turned to a horrified one.

"No Ramen at all?! NOOO! The world is ending?!"

* * *

**In a private room (Around the same time)**

"Are you certain about this Hokage-sama?" An elder asked as he gazed at him with his one eye. Bandages, were wrapped around and he wore a dark Yukata with a sling holding his other arm.

Hiruzen looked at his old friend. "Yes. I am certain Danzo. While I understand your reservations and doubts the three will be made Chunin."

"But that hasn't happened in a couple decades. This is not wise making an unknown, and possibly dangerous child into the upper ranks." Danzo said enraged. Hiruzen sighed and crossed his arms. "Indeed, I agree but nothing that we have searched or checked point to her been a spy or a threat to us. Although, I admit much of her remains shrouded in mystery and it appears as if she appeared out of thin air. However, nothing is concrete."

"Still, if you let me handle her, I'm certain she won't ever betray Konoha." HIruzen sighed and shook his head. "No, that is quite alright. That will not be necessary my friend. While she will be made Chunin, we will be keeping a close eye on her. This will be for a while. For this you have something to add don't you Daitaro-san?"

"…Hai Hokage-sama. As you've said a lot remains in mystery about her and things don't add up when she mentions certain things about her past. It's almost as if she's older than she appears, yet when checked there's nothing out of the ordinary. Even when checked and probed to be a sleeping agent without her knowing. Nothing happens. Throughout all this time, I have watched her carefully and see she holds no malicious intent towards Konoha or anyone here."

So you don't see a point in having her checked or made certain that she won't ever betray Konoha?" Danzo stared at the man with a piercing gaze. Daitaro bowed his head.

"With no amount of disrespect elder. I mean that it isn't necessary as you will find that she is a hard worker and will do what she can for those she cares about."

Danzo stared at him before turning back to Hiruzen. "Very well then. If things turnout different do not say I didn't warn you old friend." He then stood up and a few anbu appeared next to him. Hiruzen watched as his friend left and sighed.

"You may go now Daitaro-san. I believe you need to be with your students. They will be given the news tomorrow." Daitaro kneeled on the floor and bowed.

"Hai Hokage -sama."

* * *

**M:So…I'm finally done! Seventeen and a half pages! OH GOD this took a while but I finished and and! I already have an idea about two more KHR characters joining next chapter? Anyone want to take a guess? Also there is a hint of another part of the plot along with the already current one. Anyone have an idea of what it is?**

**Anywho! Just to clarify somethings the fight scenes weren't that long and I apologize for that. Another thing is the final round I kind of really get into writing that cuz I feel I wouldn't do that justice but I can tell you that the fight was obviously won by Shisui which wasn't how I originally planned but turned out that way. He's mastered his Body Flicker technique so major disadvantage. So yeah, he won and easily beat the Suna-nin.**

**You can also see that things are finally moving along for Yume, but her progression up the ranks isn't without some consequences cuz of who she is. Hopefully you all enjoy this chapter! **

**P.S. Also I want to apologize again for not finishing earlier but I had been gone for two weeks when I had originally planned to finish this. And OH GOD THEY HAD NO INTERNET over THERE! I also couldn't take my laptop. I was so deprived of my technology I don't know how I didn't go stir crazy without being back here. Not to mention after finally getting a new laptop! **

**P.P.S. Also Sorry if I haven't responded back to any reviews. Gomen. Although I'm happy to know that you guys enjoy the chapters.  
**


	25. Chapter 25

**M: I don't own KHR or Naruto. **

**Chapter 25**

"Yume-nee…what are you doing?" The young teal haired boy asked as he gazed at Yume as she was putting some chocolates in the oven they had in the apartment. "Ah, isn't it obvious? I'm making valentines chocolate." She responded and smiled. "It's been a long time since I've done this so I wonder if they'll be as good as they used to be." She had grown a few inches recently, and was wearing her normal clothes, as in a blank tank top and khaki shorts. Her hair was also shorter, and was in a hairstyle similar to Basil's.

"But there's no such things as Valentines here." He stated as she shrugged. She knew that but that didn't mean she couldn't celebrate it with everyone even if they didn't that she was celebrating. It felt nice baking this again. She had made dango and a few other local sweets, as well as some of her baking recipes in the last few years here but it wasn't really for a special reason. Nor had she really tried in baking any sweets from back home for her friends just Fran. Call it unfair, but she just wasn't sure how they would take them, and today would be a good time to test how they would like them.

"…I call dibs on the ones I want." Fran said as he gazed into the oven in the small kitchen. He liked the sweets Yume baked, especially since they were homemade and fresh. "Also…Yume-nee are you going to give these to those weirdos?" He asked not at all happy with the notion of sharing the sweets with anyone else, especially her two teammates. Yume looked at Fran as she was cleaning up the mess she had made.

"Fran, they're not weirdos and yes. I will be."

"Then…does that mean you have a crush on one of them? I mean that would explain why you are always around them when they get back from missions." Yume choked on her own spit and she started coughing while she had a barely noticeable blush on her face. Whether she knew that or not. "What? No. Ewe. No Fran. I'm eleven for goodness sake. Or at least around eleven. Maybe I'm twelve since it's been about two years since the Chunin exams." Fran doubted her words but kept his mouth shut about that.

"Technically your twenty-seven I think." Fran stated instead and stared at her with his usual expression. " 're old Yume-nee." Yume stopped cleaning and slumped forward depressed.

"You're right…I am old. I'll never find a guy to love after this…" She murmured to herself. Fran gazed at her some more.

"You're right. I mean the only guys available that you might be attracted to are that perverted doctor, or that old thunder pervert Levi." He stated and he created illusions of arrows sticking to her back as she seemed to realize that too.

"Oh god no…" Fran patted her on the back after he moved a stool so he could stand on to pat her on the back, not failing to notice that someone was knocking on the door. Yume didn't move and Fran shrugged. 'Might as well do this myself.' He then moved from the stool and went to the door.

When he opened the door he saw that Shisui, and Itachi were standing there in the doorway. Both of them wearing the standard Chunin uniform. They looked at him with a look of displeasure which he did not return but stared at them without blinking.

"Where's your sister?" Shisui asked breaking eye contact and Fran looked back towards the kitchen. "Kitchen. Although I don't think you should bother her right now. She has no time to deal with you weirdos." Shisui rolled his eyes and stepped inside. Taking off his ninja sandal's as he put on the slippers Yume had gotten for them. Itachi followed Shisui's actions and stared around as he smelled something sweet.

As they entered the kitchen they saw Yume with her head down and holding a dirty bowl. Itachi tilted his head in wonder. "What happened to her?" Shisui asked and Fran deadpanned.

"She's going through midlife crisis." Itachi looked at the child and rubbed his temples and Shisui glared at the kid. "This is no time to be joking little brat." Although as he said brat it really held no bite to it. Fran shrugged.

"I wasn't joking, but if that's how you want to take it. Not my problem." He then went to Yume and took the bowl out of her hands and this caused Yume to look at Fran. "Fran I'm old!"

"Yeah." He nodded and Shisui and Itachi shook their heads as they sweatdropped at her exclamation. She was even more open with them after they had been made Chunin, but that might have been because they saw less of each other than before.

"You're not old Yume-chan." Shisui said as he patted her on the head. "But I am!" She exclaimed again and he rolled his eyes. "Don't let the runt give you any ideas Yume-chan."

"Bu-But!" Itachi stepped forward and poked her on the forehead as he would Sasuke. "Calm down." Yume frowned and rubbed her forehead.

"I am calm…"

"No, you weren't." Itachi said as he then turned to look at the oven in question and she followed his gaze.

"Well now that that's over with. What are you making?" Shisui asked as both boys looked towards the oven where they could smell something sweet being made.

"Ah…That's a surprise." She said apologetically. "So I won't tell you till later." This picked both boys interest and they tried to open the oven despite what she had said. Shisui because he was curious and Itachi because of his sweet tooth. Quickly she appeared in front of the oven and blocked it. "Oh no. You two will have to wait for later."

"Aw but Yume-chan!"

"No. Now you two get out of my kitchen or don't you dare attempt that again." She said as Fran finished cleaning all the dishes for Yume and drying them. "Listen to Yume-nee, or I will go tell your parents Weasel-chan." Itachi's brow twitched at the nickname Fran had not stopped using for a long while.

"Well that's a pretty childish threat." Shisui said as he stared at Fran. "So what, Mikoto-sama will still be upset and disappointed with you two." The eight-year-old stated and Shisui sighed."Ugh! Fine fine."

"Hn." Itachi gazed back at the oven and Yume crossed her arms. "No, bad Itachi." She said and glared at him. Itachi rolled his eyes but moved his gaze away and towards her. She either didn't notice or chose to ignore it.

"Anyways Yume. We were wondering if you would like to join us in a spar, but from the looks of things that's not going to happen." She smiled apologetically.

"Yeah sorry, but I might be able to join later."

"Figures." Shisui sighed and rubbed the back of his head. Itachi sighed as well and sat down on a stool. "You haven't been hanging around us as much…" He stated as he gazed at her accusingly.

She shrugged. "Been busy, you guys are busy. It happens you know…" She crossed her arms and looked away. "But yeah I've missed you guys." Shisui grinned and Itachi smiled softly. She still seemed reluctant to admit some things and still kept her secrets close but she was more honest with them.

"Well that's gross." Fran commented as he stared at the mushy, friendship type of scene. He really didn't like such type of things. It was almost as if he could see flowers with a pink background around them. The type of things he would see in anime back home.

Yume blinked and chuckled and rubbed the back of her head. Shisui, and Itachi ignored Fran but their smiles left their faces.

"Yume…you cut your hair." Itachi spoke soon after and noticed that her hair was much shorter. "I didn't notice…it's a shame you looked better with long hair." Shisui commented.

"Well geez thanks." She said dryly. "I didn't mean to get it cut but things happened." She shrugged. A good chunk of her hair had been cut off in the last mission so she had just decided to cut it shorter. It was starting to get in the way anyhow. "Fran are you going out to play with Sasuke-kun and Naruto-kun?"

"Nah. It's a bit boring for me. I'd rather spend time here." Fran looked pointedly at Itachi and Shisui as if telling them to get out so he can spend more time alone with Yume. They didn't seem to care though. 'Just you wait, I'll get you one of these days with my illusions.' He thought to himself as they ignored him. Yume frowned a bit but didn't comment. Fran then picked up the book he had been carrying but had laid out on the table as he entered the kitchen.

"Anyways, opposite can be said for you two boys." She said to both of the Uchiha as she looked towards their dark hair. Shisui's spikes had grown a bit and Itachi's had grown to look more like a decent ponytail rather than just the beginning of one.

"Hn." Both of them said and she rolled her light brown eyes once more. Before she could say anything more Naruto and Sasuke burst in through the front door. "Nii-san! Shisui-san! Yume-nee! Let's play!" Sasuke yelled from the small foyer and ran with his slippers into the kitchen.

"YEAH! Shisui-nii! Play with us! Yume-nee! Come play with us too!" Naruto yelled louder than Sasuke and grinned as he tried to beat Sasuke first into the kitchen. Sasuke glared at Naruto and pushed him to the ground.

"Teme!" Yume sighed and picked up the two boys one in each hand as she kept them apart before they could start fighting. "Now, don't fight you two. Especially not in here." She told them pointed and Sasuke crossed his arms and huffed. Naruto whined and pouted.

"But Yume-nee! He started it."

"And I don't care who started it, I'm ending it." Itachi shook his head and got his little brother from her right hand. Sasuke looked at his brother and lowered his gaze to the floor slightly ashamed of his brother seemingly disappointed in his behavior. Shisui was laughing at the two boys and how funny they could be at times.

Fran looked up from his book and sighed at the antics of the blonde and dark haired boy. He didn't feel like piping in either, seeing as he didn't want to get involved. It wasn't his fault that he was starting to get bored, and restless. Not to mention he had to tell Yume something.

Yume sighed. "Anyways, I can't join you boys this time. Sorry, but why don't you try and convince Itachi and Shisui ne? I'm sure they have nothing to do at the moment." She said lightly as she put Naruto down and patted his head as he pouted even more.

"Aw! But it's always more fun when Yume-nee is there!" Yume shook her head. As she got out a medium sized box. "I know but I'm afraid I can't Naruto. I need to make sure that what I'm baking won't get burned. Some of the ingredients were really expensive and I'm unsure if I will be able to get some more in time. That and I need to keep an eye on Fran." She said as she pointed in the direction of the eight-year-old who had returned to reading his book.

Naruto turned to look at Fran and was surprised to see him there. He hadn't noticed that he was in the kitchen with them as the boy would usually make a blunt, or mean remark in his opinion, whenever they were causing a ruckus.

"When did you get here?"

"I've been here the whole time. You should use the small amount of brain cells you have."

"Fran, you've been getting harsher recently." Yume noted as he shrugged again, returning to reading his book.

"It's not my fault." Yume studied him and frowned. Something was up with him recently and she was starting to wonder what it was.

Sasuke in the meantime was giving Itachi and Shisui a puppy-eyed look as he silently begged them to go play with them. He was a bit disappointed that Yume wouldn't play with them but that didn't mean his family couldn't. Shisui looked away from Sasuke's stare already knowing that Itachi would cave in soon. He would follow him during that matter, seeing that it would soon be difficult for either of them to play with the children as they used to. Both he and Itachi were planning on taking more missions before they could become Jounin.

He would have expected Yume to do the same and while she did take long missions, it didn't appear as if she was planning to become a Jounin around the same time as them. He wondered why that was but back to the matter at hand he could tell that Itachi had finally caved in. Sighing mentally, he smiled.

"Well, it appears we'll be cutting our time short Yume." Yume looked up from studying Fran.

"Ah. Okay that's fine." She said absentmindedly. "We'll see you guys later. You'll be at the compound later I assume."

"Yeah." He had noticed her exchange with Fran but hadn't commented on it. She would deal with it on her own as much as he and Itachi disliked that. They were friends after all.

"Okay, I'll go pick up Naruto over there." Her focus returned to Fran with her frown becoming more prominent. Itachi looked at their exchange and his eyes took on a thoughtful look. Sasuke was looking on confused but soon, tugged on his brother's shirt as he had finally been put down. "C'mon Nii-san!" He insisted and Itachi's attention reverted back to Sasuke.

* * *

As soon as they were all gone Yume gazed at Fran and crossed her arms. "Okay, Fran what's going on?" She asked concerned and Fran sighed. "I'm just bored."

"I can see that. But there's something else bothering you isn't there?"

"…I keep on having this dream Yume-nee. Master is there and it seems like he's trying to reach me but he doesn't he always fades before he can speak to me." Fran said and put the book down on the table where he was sitting at. "It's weird." He crossed his arms and looked at the wall.

"I see…" She said as she closed her eyes in thought. She felt a pang of hope swelling up but she shouldn't get her hopes up at the moment. "…You've had dreams of him before though."

"Yeah, but not like this."

"…I'll have it looked into Fran." She said as she opened her eyes. "If he is really here, then there should be people who have seen someone as odd as Mukuro."

"Yeah…Shisuo is weird." That caused her to quirk her lips up as she nodded in agreement. "Indeed but it'd be best he never heard or knew about that we said that." Fran rolled his eyes and looked up. "He'd stab us…or make us see our worst nightmare. Again." He said referring to one of the Halloween celebrations they had decided to do. Reborn had the idea of making a haunting house and how he had made Mukuro agree was somewhat of a mystery. Although, perhaps catching them off-guard and being sadistic might have helped.

She blanched a little. "…Let's not go there. I just hope to never get on his bad side." Fran shrugged and watched as Yume picked up her Snow box. Lighting up her guardian ring with a light blue flame, he could feel the cold starting from the distance of the counter and the table of five feet away. He noticed that the window were beginning to frost but didn't due to the fact that she had quickly opened her box.

In a gust of cold air, and a bit of snow falling two eight inch white winged, with blue on the tips, butterflies came out. They flew around her before landing on her head. She smiled as she caressed their wings lightly.

"Hey Yuki, Chou." The butterflies fluttered their wings in response and she smiled some more. "Can you two do me a favor?" They fluttered their wings once. "Would you both please freeze the inside of this box." Their white antennas twitched a bit and they flew into the box and around the inside. Soon Ice formed inside of the box while the outside was untouched. Although as she picked it up she could feel how cold it was.

"Isn't that abuse of your powers Yume-nee?" Fran asked as he observed the butterflies. She hummed to herself as she got out a slightly bigger box and began stuffing it with some insulating material. "Maybe but it's the only way I can think of for Gaara to not get melted chocolates." She stated and Yuki flew back onto her head while Chou decided to fly onto Fran's nose. Fran didn't appear fazed as Chou did so.

"Oh…It's been a long time since we saw Tanuki." Yume nodded. "Yeah…Last time I went he appeared a bit off and he clung onto me a lot…" She sighed. "Unfortunately I had to leave a few days after getting there."

"Hm…he has it tough." Fran commented as he stuck out his finger and Chou flew onto it. Landing delicately and softly on it. He could feel the coolness radiating from its small body.

"Yeah…" She sighed and rubbed the back of her head. Being careful not to startle Yuki. "I'll be leaving again in a few days though Fran. I had gotten a message from them again, letting me know that they found someone interesting. Who knows maybe it's a person who knows it might be someone with enough knowledge of seals but I doubt it."

"Yup. They don't have that much influence yet. But it might be a lead." Fran said as he lightly poked Chou before deciding to make an illusory flower. Chou flew onto the light blue rose he had made. He observed that as the amount of time the butterfly was on there it would slowly freeze the flower. "Anyways don't you think that the amount of time you're gone might lead to suspicion."

"Hn. Fran you know I've been under suspicion since I became Chunin, but yeah it would be if I hadn't talked to the Hokage sometime after becoming Chunin. Didn't I already mention this to you?" She gave Fran a puzzled look. He stuck his pinky finger in his ear.

"Maybe I was probably ignoring you that time." She sweatdropped as he gave her an unrepentant look. "Geez. Well. I talked to him, and after explaining without actually giving all the details I was given permission from time to time to leave for a maximum of two months. Still it wasn't like I could do much since I was still followed." She said as an afterthought.

"Figures. Ninja are so annoying Yume-nee." She rubbed the side of her neck. "So I'm annoying then?" Fran blinked before shaking his head. "No. You're not annoying, sides can you really be considered a ninja?" He said referencing to her weapons and her mouth twitched upwards.

"Touché." She checked the clock on the wall next to the table. "Well we're in luck seems the chocolate will be done soon." Fran lifted his arms upwards. "Yay." He said without emotion. She chuckled and hummed.

* * *

Itachi stared at the clear bag filled with chocolate candy, unsure of what to make of them. They were wrapped with a pink and red ribbon. He had asked Yume why those colors and she had laughed his question off. It was a genuine happy laugh, like the time when they had found out they had made Chunin.

Shisui had raised his eye brow at the choice in color as well as the heart shaped sweets and truffles but merely shrugged it off and smiled. They could both choose to ask her where she got this from or the idea but they had a feeling she wouldn't give them a completely honest response. It was more than likely that she had picked it up from someplace.

Both Fran and Naruto were already eating their chocolate without much care. And Itachi nor Shisui were looking forward to the energy the blonde was going to have afterwards. Sasuke on the other hand was looking at the chocolate dubiously and looked conflicted on how to discreetly get rid of it without hurting Yume's feelings.

Yume had noticed and Itachi watched as she explained that the chocolate wasn't all that sweet and that she had made it just that way for him because she knew he didn't like sweet things. That had cheered him up and was relieved as well as glad that it was made special for him. Itachi's gaze softened and a small smile formed from his mouth. 'I'm glad that they're close. If…' He cut off the thought short and glanced at his mother who was smiling at the scene with all of them together. He shook his head and returned to looking at Yume interact with the kids while he and Shisui hung back watching. He found more and more, that his gaze would wander towards her unconsciously. It was nice to watch her enjoy herself.

Shisui noticed Itachi watching Yume and rolled his eyes. It was clear for him to see that Itachi still hadn't realized how bad he had it for their teammate. Or rather how much by the time he does realize. Itachi wasn't stupid and would end up realizing what he felt. Eventually. However, Yume was another person all together. She had grown up some and he could tell by her changing, although not that much right now, that she would catch attention from guys. That would be a problem, and not to mention the fact that he doubted she would admit she was in love or had a crush on someone. Much less her own teammate but he could tell from the few times he caught her looking at Itachi. Having a light blush starting to color her face before snapping out of and looking away.

"Hm…" Itachi turned to look at him and Shisui smirked. "Ne, Itachi. What do you think of Yume-chan?" Itachi gave him a look as if questioning of he was dumb or not. "She's nice. A good friend although not very open with her feelings at times. But she does care and does what she believes is the best for the ones she cares about." He replied as he decided to open the bag of sweets Yume had given him.

"Hm…Okay!" Shisui said as he gazed at the sunset, It was a nice day and it was peaceful in the compound. In a way a calm before the storm with the way things were. "You know I agree; she is like that but you know…sometimes I feel like she's too old." Itachi raised his brow at that. "You've thought of it too, don't lie. Sometimes, I feel as if we're missing out on a lot of things about her." He stated as he opened the bag noiselessly and took a bite of the chocolate truffle. "Hey! This is pretty good!"

Itachi nodded his agreement as he ate a heart shaped chocolate and let the chocolate melt in his mouth.

Yume looked back at Shisui and Itachi who were eating their chocolate on the edge of the wooden outside hallways. She smiled at that. 'It seems like they're enjoying them. That's good though. Guess I'll be making more when I come back I guess. Ah, but definitely not heart shaped.' She thought to herself as she watched Fran, Naruto, and Sasuke run around after Fran had insulted both boys.

She smiled fondly as she gazed up at the sky. 'Ne. Tsuna-kun. It's just like being at home but…you all aren't here.' Her gaze saddened as she put her hands behind her back. 'Tsuna-kun…am I being too selfish by deciding that I'll leave, and know that I'm going to end up hurting them without them ever knowing?' A small breeze swept through and she closed her eyes while smiling. 'I wish it didn't have to be that way…' She thought as she pushed her sadness back and watched as Fran tripped Sasuke who in turn knocked over Naruto.

She shook her head and sighed as she watched the boys argue. 'I think you'd be fond of them too Tsuna-kun.' She looked at them fondly. Her brown eyes watched them as a thought went through her head. 'It's almost as if I was back home.'

* * *

"Tch! Have you found anything of importance yet trash?" A voice asked as the silver haired figure glared at the other blonde haired one. He was a man in his early twenties, and had on a white fur rimmed uniform, with white and a pale yellow color to it. His blonde comrade also had a similar uniform, but he was either between the ages of fifteen and sixteen. He had his arms crossed while the figure he was talking to had his arms behind his back.

"The prince has found nothing unfortunately Taichou. However, it would seem there are interesting people here. Ushishishi." The other replied and you could hear him practically smile. "Too bad for them. Although the prince can't wait till I get my hands on the stupid frog."

"As if you had even been looking forward for this you scum!" The other glared at him and Bel's grin fell from his face. "The prince shouldn't have to look for that stupid frog." He stated and crossed his arms. The silver haired captain glared at the second youngest member of the Varia. "VOOII! Stop complaining brat. If it hadn't been for you the first time neither of us would have had to get involved!"

"Ushishishi. The prince is not at fault." Despite not being able to see his eyes because of his bangs, Squalo could feel Bel's glare despite the grin adorning his face again. Squalo narrowed his cool grey eyes at the insolence of Bel. "It is! If you had done as you were supposed to and watched the damn brat then we would not have had to come here and look for him, along with that other piece of trash! Nor deal with any of these fucking changes for the past few days!" He stated referencing to the changes in their appearance and strength. A change he was not comfortable with or the sudden amount of weakness they had felt when coming here.

"Shishi. Ah that's right. It's good that they had been able to minimize the deaging. The prince rather dislikes the difference in strength." Bel commented as he twirled a knife in his hand. "The prince wonders how those other guys are faring. Shishishi. The prince would have liked to see them in their time of weakness."

"Tch! Let's start looking some more. The less we have to be here the less I don't have to babysit you trash." Squalo said ignoring the last thing Bel said. Whatever happened to those other two wasn't his problem but it would cause problems with the Decimo. Not to mention he would get hell from his boss too.

"Ushishishi. The prince is not trash."

"I don't fucking care!"

**M:So there you have it! Hope you all enjoyed it. This was supposed to be an omake cuz of Valentine's day coming near and stuff but it ended up like this. :/ Oh well. I'm going to start work on the next chapter soon. ^-^ Till next time! Oh! And also some fluff might start appearing soon! But I don't think much cuz they're still Itachi and Yume are still kinda young (Physically for Yume anyways) and well Yume has to mentally accept she might have a crush on him.**

**Janza: I hadn't realized that it seems like that but yeah she did collect a few younger brothers hahhah. And such adorable ones too! Naruto, Sasuke, Fran and Gaara are just so adorable! **

**Animagirl: Thank you! It's good to be back. **** I missed being able to write when I had the chance. Now with a new laptop, it's easier to write when I can. Anyways I hope you enjoyed the chapter. **


	26. Chapter 26

**Disclaimer: I don't own KHR or Naruto.**

**Chapter 26**

**Knock! Knock! Knock!**

"Hold on! I'll be there in a minute." Yume called out as she finished putting away a bento in the fridge. She then made her way to the foyer, but stopped when she passed by Fran who had made an illusion of a miniature Bel. The little bel threw knifes at her and she ignored them as they went through her chest area.

"Fran, I don't mind you doing this but can you please do that somewhere a bit more private." Fran who was laying on his stomach, looked up at her and then shrugged. He then held up the miniature Bel by his foot, who in turn appeared to be throwing a tantrum.

"Okay." Was all he said and got up, while at the same time poking at the small Bel. She smiled as she shook her head and finished making her way to the door. Standing in front of her was Itachi, who was wearing his civilian outfit.

His standard black Uchiha shirt, with long black pants and his shinobi sandals. She blinked at smiled at him. "Ah, hey Itachi. Come in." She stepped aside and gestured for him to come in. Itachi gazed at her for a moment before shifting his gaze to the side.

This caused her to look at him confused. "Are you not coming in?" He shook his head and sighed. "Actually…I was wondering if you would like to hang around for a bit." He seemed to have something on his mind and she nodded in understanding. Perhaps he wanted to speak to her about something, or he might just want to hang out like normal civilians do.

This caused her to smile wryly in her mind. 'Normal. It's certainly been a while since I've acted like that. What with all the training, missions, and searching. Much less him who honestly doesn't seem to get as much rest.' She thought, referring to the slightly more pronounced bags under his eyes. "Okay, then let me just go tell Fran that I'll be out for a bit." He gave her a nod.

"That's fine." He responded and leaned back against the wall while she partially closed the door. She made her way to Fran's room and blinked as she walked into a room that appeared to defy the laws of physics. All the furniture was upside down, and things were floating in the air. It took her a while to not get caught up in the illusions Fran created and as she stared at the boy who was staring at her emotionlessly she smiled.

"Seems your practice has been paying off."

"Hai. Although Yume-nee?" Fran asked as his gaze turned to look at the illusion of flowers growing from the ceiling.

"Hm?"

"Will you be back before me and Fishcake start the school thing?" He asked seeming to not care but she knew that at some level he cared. She smiled softly, her light brown eyes showing warmth towards the teal haired boy.

"I can't make any promises but I'll try to. If not maybe a few days later and I'll be staying for some time. Anyways I'm going to be going out for a bit with Itachi-kun. So you're in charge of handling Naruto if he comes here. But please try not to make a mess you two. Or doing anything reckless."

Fran's gaze turned towards her again and he nodded. "Fishcake and reckless go hand in hand Yume-nee." She shook her head and as she held back a grin while saying seriously.

"Fran."

"Hai. Hai. I get it. I'll try. Oh and bring me back some candy too." He said as made a lot of miniature Bel's become wrapped around the stems of the flowers and being choked at the same time. She gazed up at what Fran was making and sweatdropped at the illusion. 'Oh well. That's not the worst I've seen.' She thought dismissively as she waved at Fran.

"Will do Fran!" She said fondly as she quickly got some money from her stash in the cookie jar she had. Most ninja would disprove of something so obvious but she didn't care. She then put on her ninja sandals as she made her way out the door.

"Okay. Itachi, lead the way." She said as Itachi moved to her side. She began humming the Namimori anthem as they made their way towards the busy streets of Konoha. It was around midday, and a lot of civilians and off-duty shinobi were walking around. Of course some of the shinobi were spending their time people watching as opposed to actually being on the streets.

"So…Shisui's not joining us?" She asked after some time and he shook his head.

"No. He said he had something to do."

"Ah. Figures. He might be practicing for becoming a jonin. Speaking of which when will your guys test be?" She asked as she placed her hands behind her back and he turned to look at her silently asking if she was serious.

"What? I'm being totally serious here Itachi. I haven't been here much so I've missed out on a few things." She defended and he gave her a look as if to say it was more than that. "Okay so actually a lot of things." She corrected.

"In three weeks." He stated and she turned quite. He looked at her for a moment and sighed. "You aren't going to be there are you?"

"Ah…well…" She looked away guiltily as they both expertly avoided bumping into anyone from the crowded streets. "…Sorry."

"Hn…"

She looked up at the sky and bit her lip. 'Yeesh. If Itachi's angry I don't want to imagine how Shisui will react…or Naruto if I don't make it back on the day he goes into the academy." She inwardly sighed. 'Boy am I going to have to deal with two upset boys, and try and avoid some of their rather embarrassing pranks for me.'

"…Sasuke was asking me if you will be coming over tomorrow to the compound." He stated as he looked at some of the shop windows that they passed. Some were of toys, most were for food, and others were for building or weaponry. She blinked and looked at him trying to see if he was still really angry. He was, but not that much as a few minutes ago.

"Well…I did tell him last time I would be visiting sometime in the next few days so yeah." She said referring to a few days ago when she had gone to play with them at the compound and given them chocolates. "He still hasn't told me how the academy has gone for him though."

"Hn…He's rather reluctant about talking about it since Naruto had thrown a small tantrum when he had found out. You weren't there when that happened." It appeared he wanted to say something else but refrained from doing so.

'Ouch. Stab me where it hurts why don't you.' She thought as her guilt almost caused her to flinch but she did grimace slightly. "Ah…" Was all she could say. Naruto would be entering sometime next month, and Fran as well seeing as he didn't want him to enter by himself. She had also discussed with the Hokage on this and he said they would do what they could, and when he entered he would be behind on some things but they would try and help him to catch up some before break started. That way he could be ready for the when classes resumed again.

She had a bad feeling that things would not go entirely smoothly and it caused her to wonder why Naruto couldn't join normally, like the other kids. She frowned, worried and upset as to what the reason was now that she began to think about it more. It didn't really make any sense why he was treated that way. She didn't get why he was the exception and singled out. It also didn't help that people still gazed at him so hatefully.

While she was off thinking Itachi observed her face changing expressions and he felt a bit satisfied that she at least felt guilty about her absence. Although he couldn't really judge that much either, with him being busy most of the time it was difficult to spend time with Sasuke like they used to. It also made it harder for all three of them to hang out with each other as they used to. This made more so when he noticed that Yume would spend long periods of time out of the village and less inside. It would appear suspicious if she hadn't gotten permission from the Hokage.

Although, he had a feeling it hadn't been as easy as it had sounded nor that she had found anything related to her family yet. This made him feel conflicted on whether he should be happy that she hadn't found anything yet or bad because he knew what finding her family meant to her. As he gazed at her face again he sighed and tugged at her arm and he saw her light brown eyes shift towards him in question.

He then pointed to a dango stall near them and she rolled her eyes while her lips quirked up a bit. "Of course you'd want some. I also assume I'll be the one paying." He nodded and she shook her head in amusement.

"To think that an Uchiha would not pay for his own food." He gave her an unamused stare.

"Yeah, yeah. Bad joke but I suppose it can't be helped." She said as she grabbed his hand and led towards the dango shop. "Might as well, I needed to get something for Fran too." She had caught him off-guard and was dragging him rather than actually leading him to the shop. 'Hah! Take that, small revenge!' It was rather petty and perhaps childish but that didn't matter to her.

**Meanwhile somewhere far, far away**

"Ushishishi. Now, now why don't you speak peasant?" A blonde hair male asked as he had pinned a rather burly and short, dark haired man to the wall. He was nothing more than a thug, one with strength and some power, but not as much as any of the 'ninja' he had encountered. The thug was shaking as he was pinned to the wall with the strange knives the blonde haired man used.

"Wha…I don't have to tell you...an... Anything you scu-" He didn't finish his sentence as he felt the air around him get heavy and he felt as if the eyes of the blonde were glaring at him. Which was difficult to tell with his eyes being covered behind his locks. He had thought the blonde would be easy enough to handle, and weak but perhaps it should have been easy to tell he wasn't. Despite his rather relaxed posture and perpetual grin on his face. The silver tiara, wasn't worth his life now that he thought about.

"Ushishi! Does the peasant dare insult the prince?" The man shivered, feared beginning to take hold of his being. "Such a peasant shall learn his place. But first…" Bel took out a knife and twirled it on his finger. "Why don't you start talking about what I want to know? The prince assures you that is in your best interest." A maniacal grin appeared on his face and caused the man to almost pass out of fear.

"VOI! You shitty trash! What the hell took so long!?" A silver haired male narrowed his eyes as his arms were crossed. A finger tapping impatiently on his forearm. He glared at the blonde nearing the edge of the woods they were at. They were near a rather large village, and it might have some important information.

He was just wondering when they would see a town, or city rather than these rather old-fashioned small villages they had appeared. Although he had a feeling that wouldn't be for a long while. He could have asked some of those rather persistent attackers they had from time to time but he didn't have the patience for them. He doubted they would even answer either way.

"Ushishishi. Taichou you should calm down less you lose more hairs than you already have." The blonde said and Squalo narrowed his eyes while his eyebrow twitched. "Speak now trash before I skewer you with my sword! What happened? And what have you found out?!" He threatened as he pointed his sword threateningly. Bel's grin persisted, as he gave him an answer.

"I took care of some annoying pests. And I found nothing new." He laughed as he saw Squalo's rage increase and dodged a strike aimed at him. "VOI! All that time and you found nothing? Don't you dare move scum!"

"Ushishishishi. Bring it."

**Back in Konoha**

"Hey stop stealing my dango!" Yume accused as she glared at Itachi who had just finished her last stick of dango. Her glare intensified as Itachi ignored her and stared in front of him at some passing couple that passed by the bench they were sitting on. They had sat in one of the near parks and were just enjoying the food. "Argh! You and your obsession with sweets. Honestly you're almost as bad as-" She stopped herself and looked away sulking quietly.

Itachi watched her from the corner of his eye. He sighed and poked her forehead and she made a face since she was not wearing her forehead protector. She never did when they had days off, which was a bit different than what other ninjas he's known do. "Don't sulk."

"What are you my father?"

"Maybe." Was his reply and to his amusement she got irritated.

"You're more annoying than Shisui at times you know that?"

"Now…that is an insult." Was his response as he gave her a smile. She smirked and rolled her eyes.

"Now that's just really hurtful you two!" A voice spoke behind them and the both smirked as they turned to Shisui who had appeared behind them. He had his arms crossed and stared at them unamused his dark eyes staring at them in mock anger.

"We know." Was the simultaneous response which caused Shisui to roll his eyes at that and ruffled their hair. This caused Yume to scowl and fix her hair while Itachi just quietly fixed his hair.

"Anyways, you two didn't invite me. That's just mean you know." Shisui said feigning hurt. Yume just hummed as she leaned back on the bench.

"You were busy, still are." Itachi pointed out and Shisui sighed.

"Yeah, yeah. I get it, but couldn't I just come and say hi to my two adorable friends?"

"I'm not adorable." Yume responded with a glare and Itachi gave him a blank stare. Shisui laughed internally at their responses but just shrugged outwardly.

"Hn. Well I'll be going now. See you both tomorrow." He said as he jumped on top of the metal fence. "Have fun on your date!" He said before he disappeared quickly and before either of them realized what he said and decided to hurt him. Unlikely, since there were civilians here but not improbable.

Yume blinked. "But this isn't a date."

"Hn." It got quiet for a while and they watched the civilian children playing about with some parents supervising them. A small breeze ruffled the trees and her hair. Sometimes it was moments like this that made her feel okay with being in Konoha. It was hard to enjoy the quiet back home, with all the noise from cars, construction and other things. That and coupled with the chaos that came from hanging around the Vongola family.

She reached her hand up to the sky and she smiled a bit. 'Still…they are my family. I wouldn't trade them for anything.' She sighed as she looked up longingly at the blue sky. 'I'm sorry you guys.'

After some time, they made their way back to her apartment. That is after making a stop at a candy shop. As they stood in front of her door she turned to Itachi. "Thank you." Itachi tilted his head a bit in question and she shook her head. "I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Hn." Was all he said before taking to the roofs to go home. She smiled and opened the door, and as she entered she was hit with a wave of color. There was paint and what appeared to be flour and other powders for pranks everywhere. Checking for any chakra signatures she found that Fran nor Naruto were in the apartment.

'That boy…he literally had me buy him something and he's not here.' She thought and shook her head. 'Oh well, I better start cleaning all this mess.'

"Honestly, if they're going to do this they could at least be cleaner." She muttered as she went to get a bucket and some other cleaning products.

"NOOO! Yume-nee don't go!" An upset Naruto appeared and he tugged at her hand trying to drag her back into her apartment. "I don't want you to go again! Stay! Please!" He said teary eyed and Yume sighed and avoided looking at his puppy eyes.

"I'm sorry Naruto…" She said quietly as Naruto clung to her leg.

"If you're going I'm going with you!" He cried out as he clung tightly. She sighed as she rubbed the back of her head. She should have known this might happen if he found out this soon. He had sulked the last time she left, she should have expected he might throw a fit the next time.

'Ah…what would Tsuna-kun have done in this situation?' She thought to herself as Lambo had at times thrown a tantrum about not getting to do some things like the others. Although Tsuna would calm him down. Watching the crying and clinging child with guilt. 'I can't take him with me…'

"Oi. Fishcake. Stop being a baby and let Yume-nee go." Fran said as he rubbed his eyes tiredly. Naruto glared at Fran.

"No! I want Yume-nee to stay!" Fran stared at Naruto emotionlessly.

"Stop being a brat, Fishcake. Yume-nee can't take us because we're just little kids and can get hurt. Think baka-Naru." He scolded as Naruto let go of her leg and yelled at Fran.

"I'm not a baka!"

"Yes you are. Baka. Baka." Fran teased as he got close to Naruto and pinched his nose. "You're not thinking clearly here. Can't you see your troubling Yume-nee?" He said looking at Yume who was frowning and looking guilty about this. Naruto turned and looked to see that too. He felt slightly ashamed and pouted as he crossed his arms.

"I'm sorry Naru-kun…" She apologized as she patted his head. "But I promise to try and come back as soon as I can. I just need to take care of some things…"

Naruto looked away and she sighed. She looked at Fran gratefully. "Thank you Fran. Mikoto-sama agreed to let you guys stay again for a while. You know where the key and money is, and please try not to make a mess in here again if you boys will be planning something. "

"Hai. But no promises about the mess thing." He said as she smiled gratefully at him again. "Okay, I'll help you guys pack then."

"No need to help me Yume-nee. I already have everything ready." Naruto glared and accused Fran.

"You knew?!"

"Well duh. I'm more observant than you Fishcake so of course I'd figure she'd be gone again."

"Are you saying I'm stupid?"

"I didn't say that but sure. If that's what you want to believe."

"Fra-"

"Okay now stop it please." She said as she placed a hand on top of Naruto's shoulder. "Please don't fight Naruto. And Fran no antagonizing him."

"Okay." Fran said and Naruto stared at the floor and huffed. "Whatever…"

She smiled softly with sadness in her eyes. "Thank you. Now let's get your things packed."

Itachi watched Yume as she left from above one of the compound roofs. He had his arms crossed as he watched her figure get smaller, the farther she went. His brows were furrowed together and a small frown was present. She was not wearing any of her ninja attire, except for her headband which she had on.

She was wearing a long sleeved, navy blue shirt and dark pants. He did not like that it appeared she had no weapons on her but she probably did. He sighed and turned to look to the right as Shisui appeared beside him. "Worried Itachi-chan?" Shisui asked as Itachi shrugged.

"Do I have to be?"

"No, doesn't mean that you aren't though." He responded as he sat beside Itachi's smaller frame. Itachi shrugged again as he returned to watch Yume's figure disappear completely.

"She…is my friend so I will worry. Being alone when there are others stronger than her out there." He said after a while. "I don't quite understand…" He began as he laid on his back and stared at the clear blue sky. "Why does she search for them? If they had wanted to find her they would have by now…And some things just don't make sense…"

Shisui was quiet for a while as he rested his cheek on his leg. "Well…only she knows really but…I mean if she has family out there, it'd make sense she'd want to find them. I don't quite get it either but we should support her decision. Although it'd be nice if we could help her or really know what's going on."

"Hn…but she doesn't tell us anything, nor does her brother. It must be a big secret then." He said quietly as he closed his eyes. Shisui's lips quirked up as he ruffled Itachi's hair. It was soft to the touch, and it was fun to mess it up. Itachi opened one eye and glared at him.

"Perhaps, but they were pretty young when they came here. So it's possible they have forgotten some things. The only lead I think she has are those boxes of hers." He said referring to the white and green boxes she had shown them a long time ago.

Itachi nodded as he felt the chakra signature of Fran approach their area. He straightened up as Fran was in their area of sight. He and Shisui watched as the teal haired boy looked around his surroundings as if looking for someone. His usually apathetic face held a small frown before turning to look upwards in their direction.

Shisui raised his brow and Itachi stared back unblinkingly. Itachi and Fran had a staring contest which Itachi won as Fran appeared to have lost interest. He raised his hands behind his back and walked away. Itachi took note that he was wearing a rather odd, apple shaped hat. It was weird and he wondered where he got it. Perhaps Yume had given in to a demand of Fran's and got it for him. She was too lenient on the both of those boys and they got in trouble. But it did make them happy, so perhaps that was why she let them do so.

"Well…we should be heading back. Might as well go see sensei as well." Shisui said as he stood up and grinned as Itachi followed his lead. "I bet I can beat you there." Shisui teased and Itachi rolled his eyes.

"We'll see." He then shunshined from where he was leaving Shisui blinking at the empty space. It took him a small while to realize that he had been left behind.

"OI! That's cheating!" He called out as he raced after Itachi. This led for some of the Uchiha clan members near there to shake their heads and go about their daily routines.

Yume jumped from tree branch to tree branch as she avoided any public routes. It had already been one day since she left and she had at least two more before she reached her destination, that was because she was taking a sort of roundabout route to where she was going. The less likely it was that she would lead others to her destination. Which was somewhat close to the border of the fire country, Waterfall and Grass.

It was about time she had returned after a few months of not being there. It was possible they held some information. They being a small group of young kids, and teens with some adults present whose village was being harassed by a local group of thugs that had some connection to the underground world. They were too poor to pay for a mission, and it was unlikely any ninja village would help them, much less get involved with something that was not of their concern. Something she did not like nor something Tsuna would have allowed for any family no matter how small that was under him to suffer. So she had helped them but it was also a way for her to have ears and eyes since she couldn't really do much. Thankfully it had also been around the time when she was not followed around anymore.

**Flashback**

"Uwah! Finally! I can start searching some more without all that supervision!" She exclaimed happily as she sat down on a low branch of a regular sized tree and stretched her back. The ones that had been following her since she started had fallen back about a day ago but she took some precautions and kept on being on guard for some time. Being watched almost 24/7 after being made Chunin had really made her tense up a lot and stressed her out so much about being caught or killed if she made a wrong move even by accident.

"Hm…now I finished asking around near the beginning of Grass last time and almost reached the border nearing Waterfall. But given my rank I don't think actually entering other countries is safe yet…or advisable if I ever get caught and word gets around…Sigh. What a pain." She said out loud as she massaged the back of her neck.

"Hm?" She looked to her left as she sensed chakra signatures on what she guessed was a public road. "Seems that might be a caravan coming. They might have some idea about a seals master or the unlikely event of knowing someone that does." She muttered as she stood up from her sitting position and jumped from tree branch to tree branch to get there. When they came into view she stopped and observed them.

They didn't look like merchants but not like your regular band of bandits. It was mostly all men, and a few women here and there. Their clothes were unwashed and dirty, but they themselves did not have a speck of dirt on their person. They seemed to have been leaving some place with all the goods they were carrying. She narrowed her eyes as she crept closer, keeping herself hidden and she caught snippets of their conversation.

"…good haul…boss…"

"Idiot villagers…so…"

"Heh…grand...while…"

She frowned at the other pieces of conversation she got. For being thieves or bandits, or whatever they were they certainly weren't stupid. They did talk but they weren't speaking so loud as for others to overhear much of their conversation unless they got closer. She glanced towards the direction they were coming from.

'I don't have a good feeling about this.' She thought to herself as she glanced back toward the retreating group. 'Although if it's what I think it is, it'd be better if I can do what I can.' With that she made her way, following the road while staying hidden, making as little to no sound.

Soon the trees began to thin a little and as she reached the edge she halted in her movements and cursed quietly. 'It's just as I thought. I should have taken care of them when I had the chance…but I'm not entirely sure with what I'm dealing here.' Was her grim thought as she watched a rather poor village. Huts and homes were shattered, and the fruits and vegetables they had were already rotting. The fish they had was also rotting and she sighed grimaced.

'This is pretty bad…' She then watched a group of children and some young teens around her age argue with the other adults. That made her raise her brow as they continued to argue and shout somethings. The adults and elderly just shook their heads grimly and looked away. Some other exchanges were made and soon they left, being led by one of the teenage males.

She watched for a while longer before turning her gaze towards the sky. It was around three if she calculated correctly. "Alright then. Time to get to work."

"Tch! We got to do sometin! We can't just let those scumbags do what they want!" A young boy yelled as he glared angrily at his leader. They were a small group of fifteen friends and they had decided to do something about their harassers. All of them were thin, but not scrawny and didn't have much meat on them. There clothes were all tattered and were barefoot. They were as clean as they could be for the moment but sooner or later they would be dirty again. "We have to do sometin Jiro!" A murmur of agreement passed through all of the group. Jiro who was the leader had pale green eyes, and messy scruffy dark haired sighed.

"…I know Kai, but without some help we can't do much. If we so much as do anything they'll hurt us back. We're weak and they're strong. They also have weapons, while all we have are sticks and old rusty broken tools." He indicated to the pile of old farming tools that were broken, and rusting from age.

"Now you're sounding like those old geezers! You said we could do sometin! You said!" A young girl, whose hair was in tangles exclaimed and pointed at him accusingly. Jiro gritted his teeth as his hand clenched into a fist. Everyone else was getting pretty loud and it was only amplified by their surrounding of the cave they were in.

"Well, you all at least have an idea of what your goal is. And if used correctly those old tools can be used as weapons." A voice cut in and it took a while for the whole group, to realize that it was a voice from a stranger. They all turned to look around but didn't see anything.

"Why don't you guys try looking up ne?" The voice spoke and they turned to see a figure obscured by darkness on top of the ceiling. They also noticed that some type of liquid was also dripping to the floor.

**Drip-Drop Drip-Drop**

The sound continued to resonate the floor and the younger kids shook in fright. The older ones tensed up and glared at the figure. The voice sounded like a pre-teen child's in pitch but the tone was more serious and that of someone older than they sounded.

Jiro glared up at the figure and spoke harshly. "Show yourself, and tell us what you want. I don't like to be overheard. Especially by an outsider _shinobi-san._" The last word was said in disdain and a sneer. From what he could see the figures light brown, almost glowing eyes, held amusement.

"Of course." The figure then dropped down and even with the pale moonlight illuminating them, they could see that the figure was that of a child, probably male, with light brown hair. A short sleeved shirt, and wore shirt and sandals. This brought envy among the younger children, and anger from the older ones. How dare an outsider over hear them and butt in where they don't belong.

"Now that you see me, I'd like to offer my help to you all." This caused Jiro to narrow his eyes at the young child. It had caught him off-guard at first about a child that age being a ninja but that had soon passed. It could be a trick for them to hide their real age and might do something to them.

"Help? Hah!" Jiro sneered and growled angrily at the child, who stared back at him without fear. "And why would you help us? What would you gain from it? We have no money, nothing of value. What would you stand to gain?"

The child blinked and shrugged while being glared at by his group. "I hadn't thought that far but…I had thought of setting some conditions in exchange for my help."

"Oh and what would that be? How would you help us?" He asked scathingly.

"Well…for starters I'd help you all get stronger, and defeat those bandits, or 'scumbags' as you called them." The child spoke amused before turning serious. "As for my conditions, in exchange for the help you must 1. Never use what I've taught you for any ill gain. 2. Listen well to what I teach you since I only have a limited amount of time. And 3. Never reveal my identity to anyone that questions you unless I allow it. Plus, since you brought up about what I could stand to gain. I would ask of you to please help me in turn about something."

"And what would this something be?" Jiro asked in question thinking over the conditions she had set; they weren't bad but the thing she wanted help could be something bad. He could also sense the unease coming from his friends.

"I would just like you to ask around whenever you could about a seal's master or about certain people tha-"

"We will not help you assassinate anyone! WE-"

"You misunderstood, I don't want to kill them rather…" She trailed off and he could sense longing and sadness. "I just want to know if there's a way to go back home…They might know something…" This made them all stare dubiously at the child before them. He would help them in exchange for just looking for some people. 'That's it? Really?' Jiro stared at the child, in which he thought was a boy and said.

"Give us a while to think about it." The child nodded and appeared to disappear and reappear at the mouth of the cave.

"That is fine. Ah also, enjoy the gift I got for all of you. Share it back with your village okay?" The child then threw something and four large crashes were heard. Jiro stared puzzled at what was dropped and saw that it was some dead skinned animals, that were encased in melting ice.

**Present day**

They had tentatively agreed in the end and she had helped them train as well as catch food. During this time, she had henged herself into a hardly memorable girl, to fit in with the group. In the end they had defeated the thugs and dealt with more that belonged to the same group that attacked them.

They had also moved from just helping their village and just recently expanded in helping out nearby villages that suffered from the same problem. It wasn't easy but they managed somehow. She still wasn't fully trusted but she wasn't regarded as an enemy anymore. Plus, the younger kids seemed to look up to her which she found uncomfortable. She wasn't a good person to be looked up to.

"Sigh. But at least they do help me out. I think it was Kai that was the one searching around." She thought out loud as she remembered the fourth youngest kid of around eight who really looked up to Jiro. He was also one of the last ones to accept her but had allowed her to help them. He should be around nine now, and his short dark blue hair would have probably stay the same.

Two days of nonstop travel later, she had arrived at her destination and if she hadn't known that there would be changes, she might have thought she had gone to the wrong village. They now had better housing, and the fields that had barely crops the last time were growing a plenty. The people also looked well fed and their clothes weren't ripped as the first time she had seen it.

She then henged into a young woman; about the height of 5'6, as she would have been in her original age, long raven colored hair, tan skin tone, and a plain navy kimono, and travel cheap travel boots. "I wonder if they'll recognize me." She mused to herself as she walked through the entrance of the village.

Some villagers greeted her and the few shop owners that sold to passing travelers beckoned for her to buy one of their goods. She did buy some fruits from and as she handed the shop owner money she asked. "Do you know where Jiro-san might be? I need to speak with him." She asked the old lady that tended the fruit stall. Of course she already could guess and look for him but it would be odd for her to do so. Much less if none of these villagers ever saw her in this henge before. The old lady raised her brow and gazed at her carefully. She gave her a rueful smile and bowed. "Please, I need to speak with him."

The old lady continued staying quiet and observant of her for a while. "You will find him near the outskirts of the village, near the well around this time of day. Just head straight down this road." She pointed to the road behind her. "Then turn to the right and he should be there."

She bowed gratefully and smile at her. "Thank you. Please keep the rest of the change." She then turned in the direction the old woman had pointed to. The road was covered in old wood, and grass, with the houses along it providing some shade. As she turned to the right she stared in shock at what she saw.

"Am I dreaming?" She asked as she stared at the scene in front of her.

**M:And that wraps up this chapter! I hope y'all liked it. So far things have been going more or less for Yume but who knows how long that will last. And yeah…her absences would cause some strain with the people of Konoha she knows and a feeling of loneliness for Naruto on some level too. Also I feel as if this chapter was a bit more relaxed and you guys got to see her interact with the others.**

**Also we got to see a bit more of Bel and Squalo! I hope I'm not writing them out of character. Although for some reason I find it enjoyable writing about them.**

**Snickering Fox: Yup! They are and I think I will be writing some scenes with them from time to time.**

**Animagirl: I'm happy that you enjoyed the way she acts with the kids. ^-^ and I see what you mean and yeah, I get that it's rather ambiguous. I'll try and include some more scenes between them so you all can see how their relationship is. And tbh you guessed on how it was between her and Tsuna. o.o Are you psychic or something? **

**Oh and thanks for helping me out about the other two. I'm probably going to write some flashbacks and some omakes maybe. Anyways thank you and hope you enjoyed this chapter too.**


	27. Chapter 27

"Okay class. Today we will be having…two new students joining us today." A brown haired Chunin, young woman said to her class. Her voice sounding conflicted on whether to be happy or upset with that. She had started teaching a few years ago since she was eighteen and enjoyed her job and seeing her students grow up and learn. This young woman's' name is Watanabe Aiko. "Please…remain quiet as they introduce themselves."

The class was silent, and sensed the unease and negative emotions coming from their teacher. As she had finished speaking two boys entered the classroom. One blonde with whisker like markings on his cheerful face, while the other had teal colored hair, and markings under his apathetic eyes. The class watched as both boys began to introduce themselves.

"Hi! My name's Uzumaki Naruto! It's nice to meet you all! And someday I'll be Hokage-dattebayo!" Naruto said joyfully as he grinned brightly at his classmates. The entire class was silent for a few seconds before most of the kids began talking between themselves.

"Uwah! It's him! My parents told me not to go near him. He's bad."

"Uhhuh. My mommy said that too. He's unlucky."

"Eh? My mom said he was a demon. To not go near him cuz bad things will happen."

"Well my mom said he was crazy and dan…danger...well really bad and mean!"

Comments and sentences like those went around and Aiko did nothing to stop it. As the chatter continued on Naruto's mood dampened and his grin faded. He looked at the floor as his hands clenched into fists. The teal haired boy noticed this and sighed inwardly, as he turned to their teacher who seemed to take some sort of joy in Naruto's torment.

"…Sensei. May I go now?" He asked while staring at her blankly, inwardly plotting things to get payback from all the stupid people in the classroom. He made note to leave the ones who said nothing or seemed bored about this situation out of his plot. If anyone could insult Naruto, it would be him.

Aiko jumped a bit startled at what he said and smiled softly at him. "Ah yes." She then clapped her hands together once. "Class please settle down; we must let our other new student go too." This caused for the chatter to die down once more.

"…The name's Fran." Was all he said in his apathetic tone of voice as he gazed at the students in front of him. Everyone was quiet as they waited for him to elaborate. Aiko stared blankly before her eyebrow twitched a little.

'That's it? Sigh. It would seem I have a difficult student.' She then heard noise begin to rise again as some of the girls seemed to fangirl over the teal haired boy

"Kyaa~ He's kinda cute!"

"I know but not as cute as Sasuke-kun!"

*Giggle* "Sasuke-kun is cute but I kinda like Fran-kun a bit more. I mean he's just…well there's something about him."

"Uhhuh! And even that weird shaped apple hat makes him cuter!"

Aiko sweatdropped at the conversations her female students were having and shook her head. But at least they seemed to like Fran and hopefully he would integrate well with the class. "Okay, Fran-kun…Naruto…kun. Please take a seat near the back." She said with a painfully forced smile towards Naruto and Fran.

* * *

Fran shrugged as he did as he was told, while Naruto followed quietly after the boy as they made their way towards their seat. To Fran's dismay he had to sit near one of the ugly girls (in his opinion) that had called him cute. A child he may be right now, but he was no lolicon. He then had to spend for the remainder of the first half of the day listening as the teacher taught writing, reading, and mathematics, all of which was painfully easy for him.

This wasn't made any more pleasant as Naruto spent the entire morning sulking and gloomy. Not that Fran could blame him, but little kids are always naïve and usually believe what they're parents believe. 'Ah...how annoying.' He thought as he waited for the last ten minutes before lunchtime began. He was doodling random things on the worksheet that they had given him. It was just plain frustrating for him being treated like a stupid child that doesn't know how to do simple math.

Naruto on the other hand while not over his sulking and gloominess had done his work. From what Fran could see most of them were correct but there were still some things he needed work on. He supposed that he could help him out…that is if Naruto asked. Sighing he laid down his head on top of the paper and closed his eyes. It was times like this that actually made him miss being around Bel and his sensei.

'I want to go home now. I bet Yume-nee is having more fun than me right now. She should have mentioned how annoying this academy was going to be.' Thankfully the bell rang, or rather unfortunately it did since Fran was then surrounded by a small group of girls. Some of them even pushed Naruto aside to get near him.

Fran stared blankly at them before making an illusion that he remained surrounded by the group as he jumped over them. As he landed quietly beside the now upright Naruto who was glaring where he was supposed to be he inwardly sighed. "Oi. Fishcake I'm over here. You know, jealousy over that is really stupid you know. It's not as great as it seems."

Naruto jumped up startled and was about to shout before Fran covered his mouth. He then dragged Naruto out the door and moments later the illusion of him faded leaving the young girls confused. Their sensei had left to the teachers' lounge during this time, so she didn't know that had happened.

Once in the courtyard, or hell as Fran dubbed it since it was filled with noisy and bratty children (again all of this his opinion), he removed his hand from Naruto's mouth. Naruto glared at him and huffed but there seemed something that seemed to have him confused as well.

"How did you get away from them Fran?" He asked and Fran shrugged moving his hands behind neck. "It's not my fault they're stupid to not have noticed I left."

Naruto stared at Fran doubtfully but that passed as the prospect of playing with other children came into mind. With Fran having his back turned to him he sneaked off to go see if he might be able to join some of the kids playing ninja. "We should go find Duckbutt, Fishcake." There was no response and this caused Fran to turn around only to find Naruto was gone.

"…" He stared blankly before going to look for Sasuke by himself. It took a while to do so but it wasn't hard, all it took was to follow the sound of cooing and giggling little girls as they were trying to catch Sasuke's attention. To his entertainment Sasuke was really uncomfortable and trying to peel off one brown haired girl from his arm.

He continued to watch as Sasuke struggled until he freed himself and made his escape. He then quietly followed Sasuke easily as he tried to find hiding spots. It wasn't until he found a surrounding of trees that he stopped running. Sasuke was panting and sighing as he rested his back on the trunk of one of the trees. Fran noted that he wasn't the only one there and that two other boys were also in the shade.

One of them had dark hair in a pineapple shaped hairstyle that reminded him of his sensei and some of those people he had seen on the streets from time to time. The other was a chubby brown haired boy with swirl markings on his cheeks who was eating while the pineapple haired boy was napping. He also noticed that they were probably ignoring Sasuke's presence since he had made a lot of noise as he reached his destination.

Finding it dull now that Sasuke wasn't running anymore he decided to show himself. "Yo. Duckbutt. Had a nice workout?" He asked as he waved his hand as Sasuke looked up at the tree branch Fran was on. Sasuke then looked annoyed.

"What do you think?"

"Hm…I wonder…" He then jumped down next to Sasuke quietly which caused him to glare more. Fran sat down next to him. "So you're quite the celebrity Duckbutt."

"And? Jealous?" He retorted angrily.

"Me jealous? Don't kid yourself Duckbutt. I'm not about to get jealous over an animal's rear end." He responded back as he took out his bento. Sasuke's anger rose but he held back, seeing as he didn't want to give his hiding spot away. As he watched Fran start eating he felt his stomach growl and he remembered he had left his bento back where all the girls had been bothering him.

Fran noticed this and hummed. "Do you want some Duckbutt?" He would have taunted him but thought better than to continue angering him, seeing as they all were sleeping in his room for now. Sasuke looked torn between accepting or refusing the offer. His pride being the reason for this. In the end he relented but he only took a bit.

"Where's Naruto?" Sasuke asked after a while. Fran shrugged.

"Don't know. He ditched me." Sasuke sweatdropped at that and frowned. "Well we should go look for him at least. He'll end up in trouble."

"I know, but it's his own fault. Plus, you sure you want to go back looking for him with all those crazies out there?" He asked calmly as he put away his bento back into his bag. Sasuke thought about that and quietly sulked as Fran had a point. All that he could hope was that his friend wouldn't cause any trouble.

* * *

Throughout this exchange the pineapple haired boy and his friend watched or rather in the pineapple haired boy's case overheard, the conversation between the most popular boy in their class. He was mostly quiet and didn't talk to other students much less show any friendly actions to any of his fellow classmates. He wasn't rude but just extremely polite, and formal in regards to anyone else. His amount of fangirls wasn't much help either.

"Sigh…this will be a drag if those girls find him here…" The pineapple haired boy muttered to his friend as he finished the last chip sadly. "Yeah you're right Shikamaru…and I'm out of chips again." His friend said and Shikamaru sighed.

"Ah…just have mine, just don't eat my lunch Choji." Shikamaru said as he indicated to a black bag next to him. The boy, Choji, smiled happily as he opened the bag to get the bag of chips. "Thanks, you're the best Shikamaru."

"Yeah, yeah…" He muttered as he began to doze off. All the while neither boy noticing how a pair of calm teal eyes, observed them discreetly.

* * *

In the end they had to return for the afternoon classes, of which Fran was not looking forward to. He and Sasuke had to part ways during that time as well, but after making sure most of the girls had gone back to class. Fran knew he was going to be late and might be in trouble but in reality, he didn't care. Getting grounded, or whatever they do here wasn't scary at all. Facing an angry Xanxus or any of the Varia actually was scary. Not to mention his own teacher, who rather enjoyed stabbing his trident in his hats.

As Fran opened the classroom door he noted that his teacher had turned to look at him disappointed. He ignored that look and the scolding she began to tell him as he turned to look in the direction of his seat. He noted Naruto wasn't there and that his teacher didn't seem bothered by that at all. He stared for a moment before turning back around.

"Fran-kun! Where do you think you're going young man? Get to your seat and take out your papers. You're in enough trouble with not doing your work earlier, I'm being lenient since you're just starting but- Young man! Get back here this instant!" She shouted as Fran began walking away from her. He avoided being caught by her by using an illusion of him going in another direction as a decoy as she quickly used her fast skills.

He knew he wouldn't have much time to look for the fishcake since he would get caught eventually. Especially since he couldn't use much of his mist flames at all. 'Now where could that Fishcake be?' He thought to himself as he recalled watching a bunch of the kids playing ninja and Naruto seeming to join in, near the more vegetated part of the courtyard. He couldn't be certain since he had only paid half of his attention since his focus was more on watching Sasuke run as he jumped from tree to tree.

'What are the chances he'll be there?' he thought to himself as he made his way towards that area casually. Even if he was tight on time he would not be running. Eventually in a few minutes he reached the rather forested area and gazed around. "Oi. Fishcake if you're here, respond by dialing the help hotline." He said somewhat loudly as he kept his usually apathetic tone of voice. There was no response.

Fran sighed as he then walked further into the area. 'Yume-nee would have found him quickly…maybe I should also start practicing that sensing thing.' He then paused as he thought he hurt some rustling towards his right about a few meters. "Oi, Fishcake is that you?"

"My name's not Fishcake!" Was the response he got as a scratched up Naruto showed up and glared at Fran.

"Glad to see you too Baka-Naru." A more intense glares was all he got as Naruto crossed his arms. Fran stared back blankly and Naruto eventually looked away. "Why are you here anyway?" He mumbled as he kicked a small rock that was on the ground.

"I came looking for a missing ingredient, duh. What else would I be doing?"

"…" Naruto didn't respond before muttering something under his breath. Fran shrugged and looked up towards the branches of the trees. "Anyways let's go back to that hell of a classroom. We're probably in enough trouble as it is."

"…I don't want to go back. They all hate me! Even Watanabe-sensei!" He shouted angrily as he voiced out his frustrations. "Why do they hate me…? All I wanted was to make new friends…" He trailed off sadly and Fran couldn't answer him for he didn't know either.

Fran eventually broke the silence. "They're just dumb Fishcake, and they're kids. They let their own prejudices and emotions cloud their thinking." He stated as he made illusionary butterflies flutter towards Naruto. This caused Naruto to blink startled as the multicolored little creatures swarmed towards him. "Don't waste your tears on them. You'll find others worth your time, eventually. Like Yume-nee, who cares for you rather than baseless rumors and false accusations."

Naruto didn't respond as more butterflies surrounded him and soon he was covered by the little creatures but they flew away as their sensei appeared before them looking angry. He would ask Fran what was up with those butterflies later but right now he and Fran would both have to face punishment from their teacher.

* * *

"You two are late." Sasuke said as he stood beside his brother with his arms crossed. Adults and other people were bowed to them as they passed by in a small sign of respect and greeting to both Uchiha's. Fran shrugged while Naruto huffed at the statement.

"And? No one told you to wait teme." Sasuke glared at Naruto but blinked when he noticed that he had small scratches and cuts on his face. "What happened to you?"

Naruto didn't respond as Fran cut in. "Baka-Naru over here somehow ended up getting hurt from branches and the ground." Naruto's eyebrow twitched.

"I told you I tripped! And not to tell teme over there!"

"You just did Fishcake and anyways he was bound to find out eventually. Especially since Uchiha-sama is going to end up receiving calls until Yume-nee gets back with our track record." He stated boredly. Naruto pouted more at that and grumbled but his attitude changed when a thought popped into his head.

"Ah anyway, what was with those butterflies. They were weird." Naruto looked at Fran and Fran shrugged. "I don't know what you mean." His poker face never giving away any signs of a lie or truth. All three of them sweatdropped as they couldn't determine whether the teal haired boy was lying to them. All the more it also confused both Uchiha's or rather intrigued in the case of the older Uchiha boys.

Sasuke frowned as he questioned Naruto. "What happened with all the butterflies. Did you get distracted while following one."

"Hmph! No. They all just…flew onto me and I was covered by them. It was weird."

"Oh…maybe you were dreaming?"

"With my eyes open?"

"You never know it could happen I think…"

* * *

Itachi smiled a bit as he began walking while holding Sasuke's hand. "Come. Mother is waiting for all of us." Sasuke nodded while following his older brother happily as he chatted away with Itachi and Naruto. The other two boys just followed a few paces behind them and as Naruto talked with the other boys Fran gazed to his side as he heard low and hidden conversations between people that they passed.

"…you think it's true?"

"Yeah…perhaps they're using them to control the demon."

"It would explain why he's with them."

"Shh. Quiet don't talk about it here."

Fran wondered what it was with all the demon nonsense many spoke about whenever they thought they weren't paying attention. The people mostly didn't say anything whenever they were with Yume-nee or when they thought they were actively listening. "Hm…" He watched as the older Uchiha had a slightly tense posture despite conversing with his little brother and Naruto. "How annoying…" He muttered to himself as he then shifted his thoughts on how Yume was doing. She had promised she would try and be here today but she was probably delayed for some reason.

* * *

**A Few days before Naruto and Fran's First Day at the Academy**

**Dream**

"Hey Yume. It's been a while hasn't it?" Dream Tsuna said as she rolled her eyes as she sat next to him on one of the park swings.

"It's only been about a few weeks." She replied and he chuckled, which caused her to smile softly in turn. She swung back and forward in her original body and looked up at the clear blue sky. "Sides, you totally ditched me with giving me any advice on my situation Tsuna."

"I did." He spoke amused and she huffed. "You are so not nice." She replied as she gave him a half-hearted glared. His soft brown eyes showed amusement as he patted her on the head and she smiled softly. She closed her eyes to hide away any sadness to show on her face right now. Even if he wasn't the real Tsuna he was still Tsuna in a way and didn't want to make him worry.

"I'm nice, and you know it."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say boss." She teased and he rolled his eyes as he turned to look forward. "You're still not closer yet huh?" She sighed and nodded missing the feeling of her head being patted.

"Yeah...but I'm not giving up! If it's possible there might be a way for the seals to work as a transportation on taking me and Fran home."

"I see."

"Yes…but even then I'm unsure if such a thing is possible or if there are any other seal's masters other than the Toad Sage." She said while frowning. "But that will be a last resort in asking him for now."

"Hm…be careful then. I wouldn't want you getting hurt." He said seriously as he looked at her once more. His brown eyes appearing an orange hue at the moment. She nodded at his subtle command.

"Yeah. Don't worry I will." He frowned a bit.

"I'm serious."

"And so am I. I will do anything to go back home. To you…to everyone." She said in a dead serious tone. "Even knowing the consequences, I don't care. This is not our place, and as a Kaneko, and Vongola family member I have a duty." At that Tsuna gave her a sad smile as he saw the torn expression she showed on her face despite the conviction in her words. He doubted she even knew she was making that face.

"Even knowing the consequences huh?" He sighed sadly. "I'm sorry Yu…this wouldn't be happening if I hadn't…" She pinched him in the arm before he could finish causing him to flinch.

"Hey, stop that. No one is at fault, and I chose to do it. Your position is more important anyhow." She scolded him her light brown eyes glowing slightly. "Without you there would be chaos okay? Yeesh. If you're like this, I can't help but wonder how the real you is dealing with it right now." She muttered as she rubbed her forehead causing his lips to twitch upward.

"Yeah…I'll be waiting for you back home then."

"You better, and I expect a vacation for one whole month after this." She joked as her light brown eyes shone with amusement, sadness hidden in them.

"Hai. Hai. But you'll have to let the real me know." He nudged her shoulder and she laughed a bit. "No doubt. Poor you having to deal with more paperwork."

"Ugh. Don't even remind me. Even here I shudder at the mountain of work."

"Well what else would you expect?"

"Hmph."

She then felt herself beginning to fade again and she sighed. "I got to be going now Tsuna. See you again next time." He waved at her fading form as he said.

"Till next time Yume, and please be careful."

* * *

"-Up! UP YUME-NEE!" A loud voice yelled and as she opened her eyes she was bombarded with a black bush of hair. "Ah…Good morning to you too." She yawned as she gazed at green eyes as the small child in her arms jumped up and down on her stomach. She winced a bit and she grabbed a hold of his small body.

He was almost as she remembered him minus the much calmer hair and more normal looking clothes than the cowhide patterned onesie. She stared as Lambo crossed his arms and pouted. "But Yume-nee! You have to make Lambo-san food! Then play with Lambo-san!" She smiled at his energy and patted him on the head while inwardly frowning and dreading telling him she would be leaving tomorrow. "Heh will do Lambo-kun." She responded.

It had been a shock when she first saw him playing with Jiro near the well. Some of the other kids were there also, playing a small game of tag.

It took a while for her to get over her shock and during that time she had unconsciously dropped the henge. Her shock had worn off however, when Jiro and the kids noticed her presence which had caused Lambo to run towards her even though she was younger than when they had seen each other last time.

She had then asked Jiro how he got here and if he was the reason they had contacted her. He had said he was and that they're not sure but that he appeared in a flash of light during a thunderstorm with his clothes singed and a bag. The reason they contacted her was because he wore a similar ring to hers and thought there might be a connection.

Bringing herself back from her thoughts she noticed that Lambo had escaped her hold and was clinging onto her tightly. She patted his head again as she looked up at the wooden ceiling of the tree house that they had made as her residence area near the small village. It was a way for her to stay hidden from the rest of the people's eyes, even though they knew Jiro and his group had received help from someone.

"Ah sorry I got lost in my thoughts Lambo-kun. I'll make something but can you please let me go to do so?" Lambo shook his head and pouted. Smiling softly, she sighed. "Well then can you at least get on my shoulders? I need to be able to cook."

"Okay!" He exclaimed as she sat upright and he moved onto her shoulders. She felt his small weight rest on her shoulders and his hands grab hold of her hair. "Ne, Lambo-kun. Do you remember at all who were the ones that came with you?" She asked as she jumped off the tree house.

She had already scolded and reprimanded Lambo about sneaking into the machine that was made to get here. She knew that Tsuna wouldn't let Lambo go to someplace dangerous, much less approve of anyone taking him. This was further confirmed when he himself stated that he did, but that he wanted to find her. Although while the process didn't de age him much it appeared he had forgotten details on who else was here.

"No. Sorry Yume-nee." He apologized as he enjoyed traveling from branch to branch. Yume had already rehenged herself as the same woman who had come on the day she found out Lambo was here. "That's fine. If you ever remember tell Jiro-san." At that Lambo got a confused look on his face.

"Why not tell you?"

"Ah…well…" She dreaded having to tell him and hurt his feelings. 'Oh god, why was it always the little ones that I end hurting their feelings.' She thought as she landed on the ground, they were near the village already. "I won't be here for some time, and I can't take you there with me either." She felt Lambo's grip tighten on her hair and she winced. "I'm sorry. If I could take you with me I would!" She said frantically, almost waiting for the water works to start as she heard him begin to sniffle.

"I…no…Yume-neeee!" He began to cry and she flinched as he started to cry a waterfall of tears. He clung tightly to her and she inwardly groaned. 'I should have definitely told him later…'

* * *

The rest of the day she had to spend her time calming the young boy down even though he was mentally (sometimes that can be questionable) older, he was still a child and she knew after the time spent in the village, instead of searching as she had originally planned to do after staying for two weeks at most. As she looked at him, she could tell that her unexpected absence had affected him, especially since she was one of his main caretakers when everyone else was busy. She hadn't minded, in a way it was like having the little brother she never had the chance to have.

Her heart ached but she refused to cry as once again the consequences of her leaving would eventually cause on the little boys, or rather brothers she had in this world. She had told Tsuna her resolve but deep down, she knew that she would care about Gaara, and Naruto. She also cared for Sasuke too, but he had a family to call his own. Naruto and Gaara didn't have that luxury from what she had able to see.

Tears began to form in her and she blinked them away. 'No. I won't cry. I can't.' She thought to herself as she held the now asleep Lambo close to her. It was already around the three if she calculated correctly, and he had worn himself out after crying so much. It was so different from the happy, boisterous child she had spent time with the past few weeks.

She sighed as she heard approaching footsteps and she turned to look as Jiro approached her. She was still in her henge and he was slightly taller than her still. His body had also changed from thin to lean with hints of muscle developing. His hair had also grown longer and more wild, while his pale green eyes had brightened from the almost defeated look he had when she had first seen him. "He's calmed down." He stated in a smooth deep voice.

"Mhm…Although I expect that won't be so later when he wakes up again. He hasn't eaten since he started crying." She said softly as she stroked Lambos back soothingly.

"Then why not just take him with you? It would certainly help solve this problem." He said as he rested his back on the tree trunk with his arms crossed. She shook her head wearily. "Perhaps…but it could also cause problems. I know I'm not trusted much by the village, nor that they wouldn't hesitate to strike me down if I ever do something wrong. Not me or the other children I'm taking care of. It's possible they would also twist a tale or something as well." She glared slightly at the thought. "I can't let that happen. I have to stay alive and find a way home to my family."

"…You always talk about them but never in much detail. That causes suspicion and distrust between people of high authority it seems." He said after a moment of thought.

"Yes and I'm aware but…it's not entirely as if I can do so easily. I'm under oath and if I ever break that oath I will be killed. Nor if and's or buts. That is unless I'm allowed to and I'm unsure if that oath entirely applies to here but I'm not willing to take that chance." She stated.

"That's…pretty strict…" He said not entirely sure if that was the appropriate term to use. He figured that's how ninja villages would be but never really heard of a family that was like that.

"Perhaps…but that is how it has been for a very long time. That is also an oath I took knowingly, and I do not regret it." She then felt Lambo stir in his sleep and the hardness that was in her eyes softened. "No I do not regret it, for I doubt I would have ever been part of such a wonderful family…"

"Ho…Fine. We will take care of him as best as we can then." She smiled gratefully.

"Thank you…but please, do not involve him in what you're doing or let him become involved." He nodded. "I wasn't planning on that anyways. Also Kai and the others would end up ganging up on me if I did so. Speaking of Kai, he already left to gather info on the man you described."

"I see…Again, thank you. I'm really grateful for what you've done." He shrugged at her words.

"It's the least we could do so long as you don't involve us in any of your missions." She chuckled a bit. "Yes I know, and I won't." Lambo then took the moment to wake up and blinked his eyes still red and puffy.

"Yume-nee…" He asked in question as he rubbed his eyes. She smiled softly as she hugged him. He had shifted moods so fast already.

"Hm?"

"…Promise to come back?"

"Yes…I promise to. So you must behave and the next time I come I'll bring you lots of candy 'kay?" He nodded a bit. "Okay…but we have to play a lot today then!" He exclaimed loudly as jumped out of her arms. "I will be king and Yume-nee will be my servant." He declared and she smiled at his antics. It made her mood lighten. For now, she would again push her troubles to the back of her mind. "Now Kind Lambo declares we need to find more servants!"

"Of course. As you wish your majesty." She said respectfully, falling into the role of a servant obeying her masters command. Throughout this exchange Jiro watched them and observed in hidden amusement by the little boy's actions. He had noticed that Yume seemed to be a lot more open and cheerful around the little boy. Doing as he said and taking care of him as if she had been doing it for years.

That made him wonder what they were exactly dealing with. She was not a normal human from what he had seen and as to what or who she truly was he could not figure out. But she had helped them and didn't seem to have any ill intentions. He sighed as he removed himself from the tree and headed back to the village. 'It doesn't matter, so long as she keeps training and doing us no harm it's fine'

* * *

**Sometime later (A week after Naruto's and Fran's first day in the academy)**

As she traveled through the trees she quickened her pace as she started making out the wall surrounding Konoha. She was already late for about a week and it was possible that Fran and Naruto already started the Academy. The reason she was late due to clinging Lambo who despite what he had said, held her back with his puppy dog eyes so she ended up staying a few extra days. "I better hurry up. I need to tell Fran about this new development and get it over with in how much of a talking I'm going to get from Shisui. Not to mention all those pranks." She muttered to herself as the wall began getting bigger and bigger.

She then shifted her direction towards one of the huge gates that led into the village. Upon reaching her destination she jumped from the trees onto the road in front of the guards. "Halt." They both said and she blinked as she recognized the two guards. Narumi, and Akira. She hadn't seen them for half a year now that she thought about it.

He had grown taller and buffer, as well as tanner. His messy brown hair was now kept in a short ponytail, and his dark colored eyes also becoming more mature. Akira had also grown in height, had gotten bustier, and her pale skin tanned slightly. Her eyes also showed more matureness and seriousness too.

"Narumi-san, Akira-san. Hello to you both." She greeted politely as she took out the papers that would let her pass easily. Not all ninja had to show them or pass through the gates all the time but in her case she did.

"Ah hello Yume-san. It's been a while, and I see that you've started to grow nicely too." He said as he checked her papers. Her eyebrow twitched as she tapped her foot impatiently. Akira glared at him and if she could have Yume know she would have at that moment.

"Right…and I see you still need to watch your mouth and words around Akira-san." She replied back as her papers were handed back to her.

"Hm…What do you mean?" He asked confused as she rolled her eyes as she made her way inside.

"Why don't you figure it out yourself. Oh and good luck with Akira- san later. Ja ne!" She called out as she jumped towards the roof of one of the nearby buildings. She left a still confused Narumi, with a pissed off Akira to deal with.

She grinned inwardly to herself as she jumped from rooftop to rooftop making her way towards the Uchiha compound. Right now should both Naruto and Fran would be in the academy so that would leave her with time to prepare them a surprise. That is if they were there to begin with. As well as get them something as an apology for not arriving sooner. At the reminder of why she couldn't return sooner hit her mind it caused her to slow down a bit. Thoughts of Lambo and how he might be doing causing her to worry. She didn't doubt they would take care of him well, as they had already done so for a few months already but that didn't stop her from worrying.

'Lambo…' This new development already made her more stressed about her situation. It also brought into consideration that Fran and her might have to leave sooner than she had thought. But how to do so without getting caught or raise suspicion. Not to mention the fact of who else had traveled here.

'Sigh. This is going to be difficult…'

* * *

**M: And that's that for this chapter. I should note that there will be more scenes dealing with the kids' days in the academy. I hope I did a good job on that and more scenes with Fran. (Yay!) Also that some things mentioned in previous chapters will eventually make a connection in the future. **

**Yume doesn't have it easy with everything considering her position and situation at the moment. She has to look and take care of the little brother's she's gotten when she can. Oh, and with Lambo being the like the little brother she never had it doesn't mean that Fran isn't like that. It just meant that he was like the annoyingly, but adorable and endearing, little brother she would have liked to have to spoil. Fran is more like the blunt, calm, and observant little brother who enjoyed making others angry that she never had the chance to have.**

**Also Yume has to deal with a mistrusting ninja village, so leaving right now isn't the best option. Nor is bringing anyone else with her less she be put in more mistrust. And while yeah I suppose she could have brought Lambo (I love the little guy btw) it wouldn't work well since given his nature and tendencies to get into trouble even though he has aged a bit, it wouldn't make things easier for her. So unfortunately Lambo will not be with her for some time. :'( Although that doesn't mean that we won't see scenes with him though. **

**Animagirl: **I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter! ^-^


	28. Chapter 28

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Katekyo Hitman Reborn.**

**Problems**

Fran opened the door to the apartment, and as he put on his slippers he noticed that there were a pair of ninja sandals next to the slippers. He paused for a moment as that registered in his head which was numb after being in a classroom with the teacher droning on and on about certain subjects he already knew. All of which he had to deal on his own since Naruto had taken to ditching class without him, and he had to deal with that moron of a sensei. God, he would take a lecture from his Captain any day, and having to go on a mission with Levi rather than spend his time in that class. However, he would have to bear through it, just like Yume did.

Speaking of Yume…"I see you're back Fran. Now what is it that I've heard from Mikoto-sama that you've both ended up with complaints, and detentions?" Yume asked with her arms crossed and her face blank, but with the tenseness in her posture and tiredness in her eyes he could tell she was stressed out. She wasn't angry at them though, he could tell and just simply wanted an explanation. She knows that they wouldn't act the way they did without reason.

"Good to see you too Yume-nee. And as for why we have to deal with detention and stuff, not that we actually go to it, is to put it simply. Hell." Yume raised her brow at that. He then made an illusion of a mini theater with red curtains and a wooden stage, with chibi's of him and the rest of his class.

"You see Yume-nee. Naruto and I are subjected to mind-numbing lectures, but that's not all." Chibi Fran and Chibi Naruto appeared to be doing their work on a test. Soon the chibi version of their sensei, appeared behind Naruto and Fran. In a sickeningly sweet, and obviously fake .high pitched voice she said. "Uzumaki, copying is not allowed during an exam." The whole class was deathly silent, while Fran continued to do his work. Chibi Naruto appeared to begin protesting but was stopped as she continued. "How disappointing, but not unexpected. You will not get a retest, and you will fail this exam." Chibi Naruto appeared mad.

"What?! But that's not fair! I didn't copy!"

"Oh? Prove it then?"

"Well…um…"

"See you can't even give me an explanation."

"Oi. Sensei can you be quiet. Can't you see I am busy?" Chibi Fran said and the sensei turned to give him a smile but it turned into a frown after seeing his paper. She ignored Chibi Naruto as he glared at her before deciding to stomp out of the classroom.

"Fran, what is this? This isn't what I was asking of you to do." Sensei said in a disappointed tone as she picked up his paper. "This…this isn't even appropriate for a child your age to be writing in such detail. What has your parents been teaching you?"

"…" Chibi Fran stared at her apathetically before sighing. "I don't have to answer a stupid bitch of a sensei anything." She froze and it could be seen she was holding back her anger as she frowned at Chibi Fran disapprovingly.

"Young man, that is not the way you should speak to the adults."

"Oh really? And here I thought it was normal, seeing as most of you 'adults' are idiots. Oh and if you give me detention or whatever. I'm not going to stay and you can't make me." He said as he stood up leaving the Sensei shocked as he left the room with his bag. The illusion then faded and he turned to look at Yume who was staring where the illusion had been blankly. Only the small twitch from her eyebrow signified she was angry.

"By the way, Naruto wasn't cheating. He was actually doing his work, and it's not the first time it's happened."

"I see…" She closed her eyes as she rubbed her forehead. "I suppose I will be needing to speak with the Hokage about this situation."

"...Why him?"

"Well…while I could go speak to her, it's doubtful she will be willing to listen to reason. I'm unsure if she comes from a civilian family but if so, that will make things even more problematic. It would seem that they are warier and hostile towards Naruto, and the Uchiha for some reason as of late. In extension, since we associate with them, we will be treated the same."

"Ah…I was going to ask you about that but I guess even you don't know why."

"No…" Fran shifted and leaned against the wall as he gazed up, his apple hat like the one he used to have when he spent time with his grandmother, stopped him from looking too up. Yume stayed quiet for a moment before she sighed and said tiredly with a small smile.

"I see you've taken to wearing that again."

"Mmhm." He nodded as his gaze turned to look at her. "So…anything about Shishou?"

"Ah…not quiet but it's likely he's here. I couldn't check since Lambo is also here." She sighed again as he stared at her for a moment, taking in the other things he hadn't noticed earlier. Her eyes had dimmed, worry filled them, as well as guilt, her clothes were rumpled, and overall she didn't look at all like the Yume-nee he had grown used to. "Things just got more complicated…and next time I'm out. I'm going to visit Gaara…I think I will be needing to split my time more now."

"Yeah…but you need to rest too Yume-nee. You've been working a lot and now you look horrible." She chuckled a bit and nodded. "I expect I do…Funny how I didn't feel like this earlier."

Fran shrugged. "You have a lot on your plate, and you've been away a long time from Sawada." She gave him a confused look at the last part. "You depended and hung out with him a lot when you had the chance Yume-nee. Most would have said you had a crush on him." She blinked in realization.

"Oh…" A light blush formed on her cheeks and he took note of that but didn't say anything. "I guess so…but he was my first real friend so I guess I was a bit too attached to him."

"A bit isn't the word I'd use." He stuck his pinky in his ear as he picked out some earwax. "You were almost as bad as Smoking Bomb Hayato when it came to being loyal. If you were more competitive I think both of you would have been fighting over who's more loyal."

"Ehheh." They were both silent for a while once more and Fran started to make mini illusions of the Varia. 'Yume-nee isn't saying anything…I wonder if she's that concerned about everything.' His gaze shifted to her figure and he sweatdropped. She had fallen asleep while leaning against the wall. 'Guess not.' He then turned his gaze back to illusions to see mini-Bel trying to kill his mini-self, while mini-xanxus was sitting in an armchair with his eyes closed. Ignoring what was going on around him, and mini Squalo appeared to start blowing his gasket soon and the others… "Ah…maybe I gave them too much personality. It'd probably be better to just dispel them but…I don't wanna."

* * *

Yume stared outside the window while tapping her foot impatiently. She was needing to speak with the Hokage, but apparently she had to wait for a while for some reason. She doubted it was anything legit, with the look of disdain she got from the secretary. 'Honestly, I don't have the patience to deal with this right now.'

It had only been a day since she got back and already it felt as if so much had happened in that time. She wasn't exactly in the best of moods since Naruto refused to speak with her since the morning and that hurt her knowing she was at fault. She knew he was upset that she wasn't there their first day in the Academy, and while she had planned to arrive earlier, she couldn't exactly leave Lambo so soon. Then it was this hidden hostility between a lot of fellow ninja and the villagers when she had passed by. Well a lot would be exaggerating but certainly most of them had felt that way. Then there was the issue with Naruto's teacher, and the way he was treated. While she could tolerate, even if she disliked it, the way Naruto was treated whenever he was out in public, she certainly couldn't tolerate that he was treated the same way in school.

The academy should be able to teach him at least the basics of what he needs to learn, and expand his education, while being treated as just any other student. However, whatever prejudice there seemed to be towards Naruto, was also dominant there. Even if they didn't like him, they should at least handle things professionally when it comes to the education of one of their alumni.

She gazed as the kids were running around, and eating their lunches outside. She had spotted Naruto some distance away and he was talking to Fran, who was in turn conversing. Albeit, more nonverbal than anything. She could also see Sasuke some distance away, sitting on a tree branch. She smiled lightly at that, before her smile vanished as she glanced in the direction some of ninja that were supervising the children and stopped any roughhousing. Although when it came to Naruto being harassed earlier they did nothing. It wasn't until Fran appeared next to him and said something that they dispersed.

Children could be quite cruel, not that it was surprising. She tilted her head to the side as a figure approached her. She could see that it was a light brown haired teenage girl with grey, haughty eyes. "If it isn't little miss prodigy." She said snidely as Yume inwardly sighed. 'Oh great. Now what? Please don't tell me it's going to be like one of those drama scenes in manga where the protagonist gets verbally attacked.'

"I see you're still chunin. Not so great now huh?"

"…I'm sorry but…I don't believe I know who you are." She said tonelessly while wondering what the hell the Anbu and other ninja were doing watching this scene. 'Geez. Don't they have anything better to do?'

The teen snorted and rolled her eyes. "Of course you don't. Little miss I'm more mature than you lot, and better than you wouldn't dare remember a fellow orphan. Well just to refresh your little mind. I'm Yūhi Hana, from the Yūhi Orphanage, same as you." Yume drew a blank, not recalling any children from there, not that it was surprising since she didn't really talk or do much other than chores and take care of the little ones when she was not out training. 'Err…looking back I suppose I was a bit too introverted kind of like back then…'

"Ah…Sorry. I still don't remember." She apologized as the teen rolled glared. "Hmph. I should have expected as much. You always hung around the Uchiha, and tried to get on the teacher's good side way too much to even speak to us lowly civilians. Honestly, that pissed us all off back then, but of course we couldn't do anything. And then you started hanging around the Uchiha, probably to get into their good graces. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if that's the reason you even made it as a genin. Well, I guess it doesn't matter now since they've proven their capabilities without you holding them back. Now we all have the chance to be around them!"

'…Sigh. Just my luck. Someone that hates my guts and a fangirl. ' Yume closed her eyes and turned away from Hana. "Then I apologize for that was never my intention of making you all feel that way." She responded emotionlessly. "Ah…and congratulations on making it to Jonin. However, make note that rank doesn't always define the capabilities of a person."

"Tch. There you go using that tone as if your so much better and older than us. The fact that I'm Jonin now must irritate you if you're using that tone." Hana gritted her teeth as she crossed her arms. Exposing more of her bust, from her sleeveless dark shirt. 'No. In fact, I could care less. My goal isn't to become a high ranking ninja, and the less I know about its secrets the better.' She thought to herself as she gazed upon the teen again. 'And technically I am older.'

"I see…If that is how you view things so be it. I'm not about to bother getting into a petty argument over a small piece of information that you misconstrued into another meaning." She turned to look away, dismissing her. This was the attitude that probably costed the rumors of herself believing she was better than them but in truth she only ever used it when dealing with fangirls trying to intimidate her for hanging around Itachi and Shisui. That and when she was tired, and had a lot on her plate she would behave more like this.

"Miscontrued?! So then-"

There was a coughing noise behind her and Hana turned to look before blushing slightly as the Hokage stood in the doorway. "There is no trouble around here I hope?" He asked kindly and Yume turned towards the Hokage and bowed. "None at all Hokage-sama." Yume responded as Hana followed suit and bowed.

"Yes. No problem. Now if you excuse me I'll be leaving now Hokage-sama." Hana then left in a hurry and Yume straightened from her bow. She glanced towards the Hokage who appeared to have been aware what was going on with the look of amusement in his eyes. 'Yeah. Go ahead and enjoy the show why don't you? And if you freaking knew why the hell didn't you stop it in the first place! And call me in too while you're at it.' She thought annoyed and sighed outwardly. 'Maybe Fran's right I need to rest more, but I can't rest I need to find the others and find a way back.'

"Come now, Yume, I expect you have been waiting for a while now." The Sandaime said and motioned for her to come in. She did as she was told and sat on one of the two chairs in the middle of the room. It almost felt as if she was in a hearing room, monitored from everywhere. Scratch that, she was being monitored.

As the Sandaime sat down he looked at her, observing her body language. "I see you were in a rather problematic situation earlier."

"Hn. Unfortunately, I was, however that is not the topic I wish to discuss Hokage-sama." He raised his eyebrow and sighed. "Yes, I was wondering about that earlier. I assume it concerns your family?" He asked as he rested his hands in front of him.

"No. Well yes in a way." He waited for her to continue. "I wish to speak in concern of Naruto's education." The Hokage's expression turned serious at the mention of Naruto.

"And your concern is?"

"That he is not getting the appropriate amount of education by his teacher." He gave her a look as if to say go on. "Fran brought to my attention that Naruto was being the center of discrimination for an unknown reason. It's not entirely different from the type he gets from the regular civilians and while I can tolerate that to an extent, even though I would love to question why they hate him so much. I find it intolerable as for him to be discriminated without good cause. I know he's done pranks, and I haven't really done much to stop him, but he's never done anything to severely or physically hurt someone. Other than striking down an ego, or humiliation, but that isn't enough to warrant him to be out casted by his own sensei." Her voice became slightly more rushed and higher as she continued. "He has a right just as the other kids to be taught the same knowledge, and even if they don't like him they should act professionally. It's not fair, or right."

The Sandaime sighed at her words. He looked sad as he spoke. "Ah, I should have expected this. However, I can't do anything to directly solve his problems. Some in the counsel would object to my interfering." Yume didn't understand why but she pursed her lips as she stood. Sitting down was not helping her feelings at the moment.

"Then don't look at it as interference. Look at it as a concern for student and future shinobi representation of Konoha. Naruto's dream is to become Hokage, and when he passes the academy to become genin he will be lacking knowledge in certain areas. And while he does have a creative mind, and is resourceful I'd rather he not be lacking in knowledge that might be of use for him one day. The way he would react in situations would also affect how clients would look at the trainings of Konoha."

He mulled over what she said and then gave her a small smile. "However, the true intention of all this is that he be given the same education like any other student."

"Well…yes. He's like a little brother to me…"Her blank mask, which had already crumbled a bit with the way she spoke, completely fell as she looked at the floor sadly. "I want him to have as much chance of a normalcy as he can, despite him being hated. He's a child, and because of how dangerous our career is. I won't always be here, or even give him a certain answer that I won't die." 'Of course I'm not just speaking about being a shinobi. I'm a guardian for a mafia boss, there is always a risk that I could die at some point. Not to mention…I won't ever see him or anyone else when we go back home.'

"We'll see what we can do then." The Sandaime said bringing her out of her thoughts as she looked at him gratefully. However, she knew that he would have tried to do something either way once he'd heard of what was going on. She doubted that word of what was happening wouldn't eventually reach him at some point.

"Thank you…" She bowed gratefully. He looked towards the ceiling before giving her a nod. "You may go now. I'd expect Naruto might want to speak with you now." As she straightened from her bow she gave a blank stare. Although, he could read the slight surprise in her eyes to which he smiled vaguely.

"Uh…yes maybe. Well, have a nice day Hokage-sama" Was her response before giving another respectful bow and leaving.

* * *

"If she knew you were eavesdropping I don't believe she would be happy with you both." Two young ANBU dropped one wearing a weasel like porcelain mask while the other's resembled a cat.

"The mission has been completed Hokage-sama."Both said as they kneeled.

"Well it wouldn't be the first time, but it was surprising to see her get worked up like that." Cat responded as he stood to hand over over a package to the Hokage. Weasel merely stayed quiet.

"Indeed, even not knowing her well. I have heard from others that she's not one to start or get in a fight with her fellow colleagues."

"Or associate much with them, at least used to." Cat said referring to the fact that she now and then made small talk with others if they ever asked her a question or started a conversation. Although, that might be because she was being treated mores as an adult than a kid when they conversed with her.

"However, if you noticed she seemed tired so that might have contributed to her behavior." Weasel pointed out. Both cat and the sandaime agreed silently.

"She is not the only one who is tired I expect. Both of you should return and rest as much as you can with the situation at hand." He sighed and both Anbu stayed silent as they nodded. "I'm doing all I can at this point, but the situation doesn't look so positive at the moment."

"We will do all we can on ours Hokage-sama. We will keep on notifying you if there's any development." The Hokage smiled tiredly. "For the sake of the village let us hope it is positive. You may leave now." Both Anbu bowed before seemingly vanishing in a single moment.

* * *

**Far away from Konoha**

"Oi! Shitty captain. When will we be out of these woods? The prince does not enjoy having to eat tasteless food every single day." Bel said as his usual grin was gone and he was frowning at the meat on a stick disgustedly. Or rather what was supposed to be meat seeing as it was almost completely charred. Squalo scowled at him. "The prince is also sick of having to bathe like a medieval commoner in rivers, or staying dirty when there aren't any."

Squalo's eyebrow twitched but held back from yelling at Bel as he had somewhat of a point. It didn't appear like they would be finding any of those guardians and Fran anytime soon. So unless they earned some money, it was doubtful he would keep himself from holding back from fighting Bel with all his complaining. "Tch. Then we'll be having to find a job then."

"But the prince doesn't want to work like those commoners."

"A 'job' similar to our own you piece of trash." That seemed to lift Bel's mood as a grin formed on his face.

"Oh. Then the prince is in." Squalo resisted the urge to roll his eyes and glared at him. "Yes, now all we have to do is actually find a job."

"Ushishishi. Don't worry captain I already have that covered. Although I never expected that we would actually have to do it." Bel took out a small black book detailing bounties on people as he tossed it to Squalo. Squalo caught it and opened the book to a random page and as he looked his face darkened.

"VOI! You shitty brat. You planned this all out didn't you?" Bel's grin widened as he leaned back, throwing the rest of the charred meat to the ground some ways from where they were. "Who knows. "

Squalo gritted his teeth. "It was fun anyways to see you hold back from yelling at us. It's surprising you had so much self-control. Who knew." Squalo stayed still for a moment before looking at Bel with a murderous look.

"You brat. You're lucky boss ordered me to watch over you or else I'd kill you right now."

"Ushishishi. I'd like to see you try Taichou."

* * *

**Konoha Academy**

"Maa~ I'm so bored." Fran said as he rested the back of his head, without his hat since they made him stop bringing it. Now he was stuck outside in the hallway for being blunt at Watanabe-sensei. Or Baka-sensei as he dubbed her for now. Sometimes he called her Bitch-sensei and she got angry each and every time.

'Hm…you know instead of standing here I could just leave.'Fran thought to himself as he looked down the hallway prospectively. 'But if I leave now that Baka-sensei will come after me.' He quietly cursed under his breath at Naruto who had ditched him earlier. 'Stupid Fishcake. Leaving me behind to deal with that hell.' He was referring about the classwork and surprisingly a few girls who found him attractive even after that class incident.

He shuddered a bit. They were still too young to be dealing with those types of things. 'Stupid ninja and their ninja senses.' He mulled over what he could do and then he heard footsteps approaching. An idea then popped into his head. 'This will get me into more trouble but does give me a chance to escape.'

* * *

He then took out a marker from his shorts and quickly started vandalizing the wall. Writing some mean things about his teacher and drawings. And as expected. "Oi. That's against school rules." A male teacher said as he got in the line of sight of Fran. Fran looked up for a moment before dropping the black marker and making a run for it. The teacher stared at where he was a moment ago and before he could leave the classroom door opened.

"Is something the matter Kei-san?" Aiko asked as she gazed at her colleague in question. Kei was about a year older than her, and had a scar that ran from his eye down to his chin, and had messy brown hair, with chocolate brown eyes. He was also an excellent teacher but perhaps she was biased because she had a small crush on him. 'Gah. No not the time to think like a little school girl.'

"Yes. One of your students was writing on you wall and well looking at it. It wasn't anything nice except for those little drawings." He pointed out as she turned to look at what Fran wrote. She froze and smiled blandly. "Ah…yes. He ran off yes?"

"Yes I was about to give chase just a moment ago."

"I see…if you would please go ahead after him. I will be doing the same shortly. Um…that is if you're not busy." She said remembering he was also a teacher. He smiled charmingly, in her opinion anyways.

"Of course I don't mind. But I will have class in half an hour."

Smiling gratefully, she went back into her classroom as he quickly left. She would have to leave her students unattended for a while so they would have a short free period. After all how hard would it be to find an Academy student.

* * *

'Now that I'm far away…what should I do? I don't know where Naruto is, and if I'm with him I'm definitely getting caught.' Fran thought as he jumped from tree to tree silently, his illusions making him invisible to normal civilians. Training with the Varia had led him to learn things, and from watching Yume he learned how to do certain things too. It also helped that she gave him pointers and advice on what he got wrong sometimes.

'Hey maybe I should go see Yume-nee.' He thought as he stopped on a tree branch and looked around where he was. 'Now where did she say she usually trains by herself? Maybe she's there and she can help hide me.' He tried to remember where she said she was. 'I believe she said it was training grounds two.' He looked around trying to figure out where that would be.

He inwardly sighed as couldn't figure out where that would be either. 'Or maybe not.' He sat down on the large tree branch and looked at the sky. The large trees and vegetation reminded him of the forest surrounding Varia's headquarters. Although, not the same there was a likeness in his opinion.

'I'm bored now but it beats having to hang around class.' He then began to entertain himself as he created illusions of scenarios of how he and Bel would die. Like the time he tricked his enemies that they died when they were actually alive. He made it as realistic as could be with guts, blood and other appendages broken in each different scenario.

He stopped when he heard someone jump down next to him. He turned to look and saw Yume looking down at him. "I knew I wasn't crazy when I sensed your chakra here." She said and he shrugged. Her gaze then shifted to his illusions and raised her brow in question.

"Shouldn't you be in school?"

"Yeah but obviously I'm out."

"…Okay. Just don't do anything dangerous or get caught if you're going to play hooky."

"Shouldn't you be more concerned that I'm skipping Yume-nee?" He asked and she chuckled a bit. She gave him a nod as well.

"I should but you're not entirely a little kid anymore. You're mentally older too so there must be a reason why you left." Fran hummed as she sat down next to him. He then leaned into her side and she stared playing with his hair as he continued to make illusions.

"Then aren't you going to ask what happened?" She shook her head.

"No. I have a feeling I'll be hearing about it soon." She stated as she watched his illusions unflinchingly, and while the thought of killing others didn't sit well with her. This type of thing was part of her life so she had become slightly desensitized with death scenes. Other people, those not used to this type of thing would flinch and look away in disgust.

Fran looked up at her and noticed that she seemed to be lost in thoughts now and gazing without actually seeing what was in front of her. 'She misses home a lot.' He then looked forward and changed his illusions to something different. It was her and everyone else, as they were originally in age. Lambo and Ipin were talking to one another as Fran was watching them from a point away. Tsuna was calming down an annoyed Gokudera and trying to stop Mukuro and Hibari from fighting while gazing nervously in the direction where a preteen Reborn was gazing at him. Silently telling him to calm them down while he enjoyed his coffee peacefully. Ryohei wasn't helping as he was cheering on the extreme fight as he would say.

Bianchi was near Reborn and fawning over him. Chrome, Kyoko, Haru and Yume were engaged in a conversation. Ken and Chikusa seemed to be annoyed with everything too, as Yamamoto was next to them smiling with what was going on.

It wasn't technically everyone but it was definitely a scene that would have occurred back home. Yume blinked as she was brought out of her thoughts as her mind registered the whole scene, as their voices had broken her thoughts.

"Fran…"

"Yeah?"

"I'm grateful for this but you have to be careful where you do this okay? No one's coming right now but still." She said as a fond smile formed and she watched the scene play out. Fran nodded. "Sure. Just help me figure out how to sense chakra and we're good." She gave a nod as she continued to watch. They stayed like that for some time watching as the illusions acted so much like their real counter parts.

* * *

Time passed and it was now well into the afternoon now. Yume looked down at Fran's sleeping figure. He had started to doze off, tired from keeping up so many illusions at once. It would seem the more lifelike and normal sized the faster he got tired. It probably had to do with his physical age than anything.

She sighed as she gazed back where the scene of her friends had been. It felt as if it had been a lifetime ago that she had last seen and heard them, even with Fran's illusions, seeing Lambo and her dream's involving them kept that from fading. It almost made her feel hopeless in ever finding a way home but she knew that wasn't the case.

'Tsuna…everyone. Let's meet up soon and enjoy those times together again. Then I can tell you about all the great people I've met here.' She smiled a bit as she picked Fran and placed him on her back. She decided not to focus about the repercussions of her leaving for now again. Letting her guilt and regret overwhelm her would make her falter.

"Yume-nee…fine…" Fran mumbled sleepily and she chuckled as she jumped from tree branch to tree branch heading back to their apartment. "Fish…cake…" She hummed as she figured on where Naruto might be at this point in time. Usually he would be playing with Sasuke at the compound. She should go check if he was there and hope that he was not so upset anymore.

**M:That's that! Chapter finished finally! Although it had been mostly finished before and then my laptop crashed and I lost the whole chapter a long with another that I had already planned! TT-TT I lost everything. And this whole chapter was different and similar but I suppose this second version was a lot better. **

**Anyways it's also been a whole year since I started this fanfic! O.O A whole year! Thanks for all of you for taking your time to read this fanfic too. Ya'll are awesome! **

**And now till next chapter! Ja ne~**

**animagirl: She does but I forgot to ever even put that part into the story. Itachi and Shisui are way too popular with the female crowd for their own good. And although Yume hasn't done anything to the teacher directly right now she might in the future. Well, again hope you enjoyed the chapter! **

**Glambou Jones: Eh that's a iffy subject since I know that there are people that don't like that part of the Naruto plot. I'm one of those people but since Yume hasn't really done much to change anything at this point. So as far as that goes it might happen, might not, or lead to diverging a bit as to what happens to the Uchiha massacre. But I'm leaning more to the last option at this point since her being there has caused some changes but not as much to being able to diverge that whole event completely. However, that could change depending on how things progress in the future chapters. Although the massacre event is still some chapters away from now.**


	29. Chapter 29

**M:I don't own KHR or Naruto. :'(**

**A Typical Day**

"So... now what?" Naruto asked cheerfully now that they were far away from school.

Fran stared blankly at the figures of the three boys next to Naruto. Two of them were the boys he had seen the first day he was with Sasuke. The dark haired one, with a hairstyle that reminded him of his shishou, was called Shikanaru or something along those lines if he recalled. His gaze shifted towards the other boy had brown hair, and what was most recognizable about him was his weight and the swirls on his cheeks. His name was Choji if he was right, and as for the other boy.

Fran eyed him critically as he had never seen him before. He had messy brown hair, was wearing a grey coat and had a puppy with him. Although, he had a feeling he was similar to Naruto in terms of energy by the way he seemed to be ready in leaving.

Pineapple boy shrugged and looked at Choji. "We'll probably go somewhere quiet." Choji nodded as he said. "But we should get food first."

"Yeah, yeah." Shika something said as he sighed a little, as if he wasn't so surprised. He along with Swirls, as Fran dubbed him, then walked off. The unknown boy didn't say anything as he was running off with his puppy somewhere already. Now it was just him and Naruto.

Naruto looked at the three boys retreating figures, resignedly. He then plastered a smile on his face as he turned to Fran. "So it's just us! Where should we go? Oh! We can go prank that stupid old man from the store." Fran sighed as he put his hands in his shorts.

"Didn't we already prank him yesterday? If we go again today, he'll be on high alert." Fran stated and Naruto deflated visibly since he couldn't do that.

"Then…what should we do?" He asked as Fran hummed.

"Why not study Fishcake?" Naruto made a face and crossed his arms. Given his look he didn't seem pleased with that idea.

"It won't matter if I study, I'll get the answers wrong either way." Fran couldn't disagree with that point since their moron of a sensei was still being unfair.

"Then don't study to get good grades but to get knowledge Fishcake." Naruto gave him a look and Fran sighed. "I know it's not fun but knowledge can be powerful Naruto. It can come in useful one day, but if you don't want to do that I guess we'll just work on your handwriting. It's atrocious." At the confused look shot his way Fran resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Bad, lousy, terrible. Take your pick."

"Whatever." Naruto grumbled as he huffed. "Fine. I guess I'll read but not for long it gets boring."

"Great. Let's go back to the apartment then." Fran stated without any show of being pleased. In truth he didn't really want to be outside right now. It was starting to get really hot, nowadays, and he preferred reading than doing absolutely nothing.

As they walked through the back alleys, and less crowded streets he practiced sensing the chakra of those around him. He had asked Yume how she began sensing chakra and she told him that she could always feel it inside her and around others. Although, it was easier to feel hers since it was foreign and a bit uncomfortable to feel all the time. Over time, she could block out the annoyance and it became normal, but she did start honing her skills on sensing ninja since they leaked more chakra when they were feeling safe. However, it had been harder to sense, ANBU and other ninja that actively kept their chakra repressed until she was a genin for a year and a half.

That had actually made sense to him since it would take time to sense others from miles away, and ignore the bodies of chakra around him when it is not required. It also made sense on what the feeling under his skin had been when he first got here. He had just passed it off and eventually got used to it not really identifying that the sensation had been chakra.

"Hey Fran?" Naruto asked after a while of navigating and bringing Fran out of his practice on actively sensing chakra. Fran noted that he needed to practice on multi-tasking on sensing and doing tasks at the same time.

"Hm?"

"Have you ever wondered what it felt like to have a mom and dad?" Fran shrugged. "Not really." He never remembered his parents, his grandmother had been the one to raise him for most of his childhood. His grandmother did what she could but in a way she could never fill in the role of a mother, and Lussuria was the mother-hen in the Varia, but even he couldn't fill in that role either. Seeing as they weren't exactly what he would consider parent material at this point in their lives.

He has seen what a mother would be like, from observing the parents of normal children, Mikoto-sama and Nana but he personally has never been mothered. Unless you consider Yume, but he would consider her more of a lenient big sister that would never scold them unless they did something really bad. As for a dad…he could draw a blank on what a dad would actually be like. He could count Mukuro or Xanxus as a dad but he didn't think they'd be normal examples. Actually, an example might actually be Fugaku-sama but he didn't know if that would be a normal example either.

"Oh…it must be nice though." Naruto said wistfully as Fran gazed forward silently. His eyes taking in the hostile looks they got while Naruto was happily oblivious. Or that's what he would have believed if he didn't notice the slight tenseness in his posture.

"I guess…"

"…Ne? Fran do you think Yume-nee would know?" He asked curiously, as Fran continued walking beside him.

"She should."

"Hm…then I'll ask her next time!" Fran didn't say anything knowing that the talk on her family might bring back bad memories for her. Right now she misses Tsuna and the rest the most but...he has seen 'those' dates she is sullener and quiet at home. Returning to her normal mood when everyone else visits or is around the apartment. Acting like nothing is wrong, or she misses them. In a way, she is doing what she used to do, how she used to be.

The apartment complex soon came in sight and Naruto raced up the stairs while he went at a normal pace. He wondered if Yume would be there and he pondered on the thought of trying to sense her but pushed it aside as he approached the open door. 'He forgot to close it again. Sigh.'

* * *

"Naruto-kun, you should be in school." Yume said as she stared at the surprised look Naruto had on his face which quickly changed to a sheepish grin.

"Uh…"

Her gaze turned to Fran who closed the door and he gave her an apathetic look. Not at all apologetic about skipping classes. She sighed as she shook her head at them. "Fran you as well again?"

He shrugged. "It's not as if I'm learning much. I can just learn by myself on the subjects that require books. As for the physical ones…we won't do those till next year. Plus, you can teach us the kata's and stuff yourself." He said in a 'duh' kind of tone.

Yume's lips quirked upwards a little before sighing again. Naruto appeared excited about learning the kata's. "You have a point, and I can but first both of you will need to be in physical condition."

"…So…yoga, and other training for now."

"Yes, but we won't start on that right now." She said as she led them towards the kitchen. "Sides if you two will be missing classes you may as well study to make up for that."

"Way ahead of you Yume-nee but I need to get my books first." Fran said as he headed towards his room. Yume hummed as Naruto looked sour at the mention of studying. Giving him a smile, she ruffled his hair and he turned to look at her. "Study, and I'll bake some cookies for you two." Naruto perked up.

"YAY! Cookies!" Cookies seemed to be something he enjoyed and while it wasn't his favorite like Ramen he loved to eat them. She chuckled at his enthusiasm. "Okay but remember you two have to study." Fran came in carrying books, some more advanced than the others. He gave the more basic ones to Naruto who gave a look of distaste, but the thought of cookies led him to try and study.

She smiled as she began to get the ingredients out for making cookies and as she took them out she noticed she'd be needing to go buy groceries soon. 'Seems to be I'll be having to go get some vegetables and eggs soon.'

* * *

By the time the cookies were done, she had already finished cleaning the dishes that had gotten dirty. Both Fran and Naruto seemed to be engrossed in what they were learning. Fran in a book on genjutsu, and Naruto on the history of Konoha. She smiled at the picture they made she almost wished she had a cellphone to take a picture of them studying. It was just too cute and since she didn't want to disturb them from studying she left the cookies to cool down and went to her room.

Her room was medium sized, with a desk, a bed, a shelf, a clock and a closet. The room wasn't decorated much, and the walls were a pale blue color, with all her gifts placed on the shelf. If it weren't for that the room might as well have appeared lived in. It's not as if she didn't want to add things. Ok, so maybe she is a bit reluctant but she just couldn't bring herself to add things to a place they will end up leaving. 'It's not just that. Admit it. You simply don't want to admit that this place is also a home now.' She ignored that thought and sighed as she laid down on her bed.

She closed her eyes and let her mind drift once more to thoughts of her world. Thoughts of warm smiles, a simple childhood where militaristic training never occurred, normal primary school, her parents, and then her interesting and dangerous teenage years. Years filled with smiles, a sense of belonging, of being accepted and learning. But it wasn't all happy, there were the times she felt hurt, weak, inadequate, but there was one person that had helped her change in the beginning before she began getting influenced by the others. 'Tsuna…'

"_Kaneko-san?"_

"_Yume-san. You can refer to me by my first name Sawada-san." She gave a small smile towards the confused brunette before her._

"_Ne? Yume-chan?"_

"_Hm?"_

"_Are you okay?"_

"_Yeah I'm fine."_

"_Uwah! It's so hot today! I feel as if I'm being roasted."_

"_Um…but can't you make it colder Yume-chan?_

"…_Why didn't I think of that earlier."_

She was brought out of the snippets of conversations she had with Tsuna by someone entering the door. She noticed it was Naruto who peered in curiously to see if she was awake.

"Is something up Naruto-kun?" She asked sitting up as he shook his head and climbed onto her lap. "No but you've been here for hours, and we already finished studying and ate the cookies." She glanced towards the circular clock by the wall across from her and she blinked at the realization that she had dozed off for two hours.

"Ah. Sorry. I ended up dozing off." She said patting Naruto's head who smiled as he leaned back against her. She smiled back and hummed to avoid any silence. "Fran's in his room." She could sense his chakra on the other side of the wall.

Naruto nodded and listened to her hum that same old tune as always, it never changed. "Yume-nee? Why are you always humming or singing that song?" Yume blinked and her eyes turned cloudy as she gazed blankly ahead of her.

"Ah…habit and it's a piece of home. Frankly, I didn't even realize I hummed that all the time." Naruto looked at her curiously.

"Then did your mommy or daddy sing that for you?" Her eyes darkened at the mention and she stopped patting Naruto's head. For a moment she was quiet and Naruto felt as if he asked a question he shouldn't have.

Then she answered softly. "No. But it was a big part of the best times in my life and an important song for a friend."

"Oh…ah! By the way, what's it like to have a mommy and daddy?" He asked curiously oblivious to the solemn look in her eyes. She smiled lightly though.

"Didn't we already have this conversation before?" She asked back and he shrugged. "I don't know." She hummed softly as she gazed upwards and patted Naruto's head again. She sighed as she spoke.

"Well…generally all parents can be different in the way they raise their children but my parents were kind, caring." Naruto paid apt attention to her words. "No matter what I did they both loved me." She smiled bitterly, it would seem that even after all these years she still couldn't push back some of the emotions from that time since when it was recent she had no one to really help her. Seeing Naruto's confusion and worry by her expression she continued. "I was a spoiled brat Naruto before they died, used to be anyways, but even then they still loved me. They were stern, gave me love. My mom…she was hardworking, playful, enjoyed reading books to me at night." Her smiled shifted to a fond one. "But she was strict and wouldn't hesitate to punish or ground me if I did something wrong which wasn't common. My dad, he was strong, loved to make jokes and bad puns. He also worked long hours so he would come late but I didn't care. He did his best for our family."

"Eh…they sound nice Yume-nee!" He exclaimed with his eyes shining. She laughed a bit and had a smile that didn't reach her eyes.

"Yeah…they were."

Naruto blinked as he saw the expression on her face and realized that he had reached a sad topic. She usually never showed sorry, anger, or any type of negative emotion around them, unless it was something she felt really guilty about. Regretting having asked he quickly tried to apologize.

"Ah! Yume-nee I'm sorry! I um didn't mean to make you sad." He waved his arms frantically and this time the smile reached her eyes as she shook her head.

"It's ok Naruto, don't worry about it, it happened a long time ago. To be honest I've already spoken somewhat about this to Gaara but I guess I was too preoccupied that time to realize how sensitive that topic can be for me."

Naruto pouted at the fact that Gaara had asked first but was relieved that she wasn't sad anymore.

"Anyways," She began. "What brought on the questions?"

"Well…I've seen how other kids have a mommy and daddy and wondered what it was like to have one. I couldn't ask them cuz they're mean to me and I didn't want to ask Sasuke-teme. I asked Fran but he doesn't know either."

"Hm…I see." She began to hum again and sighed as she thought about how Naruto's situation apparently hadn't been cleared at school yet. It had already been two weeks since she spoke with the Hokage. She had realized that it would take time to fix things but still that didn't make her happy about it.

Gazing up at the ceiling while humming and holding Naruto made her remember on how she would hold Lambo, Ipin and Fran back when they were younger.

"…Ne Naruto-kun? Would you like to hear a story?" Naruto who had been relaxing in her arms perked up at the mention of the word story. Sometimes he would come here when he couldn't sleep at night or was upset and she would read him stories from the library. He then frowned as he realized that she didn't have any books to read a story.

Seeing this Yume hid a smile as she explained. "It won't be the usual ones. This time it'll be about a young boy, a useless boy, that grew to be someone capable with a lot of friends."

This caused Naruto's curiosity to spike and before he could begin to bounce in excitement she began. "There once was a boy, a boy who never really seemed to excel in anything he…."

* * *

"Oi! Fishcake. Wait up. You're going to fast you're going to-Ugh! Why do I bother." Fran inwardly sighed as he mumbled without giving his irritation in his voice or expression as Naruto crashed into an upperclassman.

Naruto grumbled as he rubbed his head as he was pushed off from on top of the older boy. He then blanched as he realized who he had crashed into. It was Morino Tori, one of the senpais others knew not to get on his bad side from his build he could tell he was developing muscle, and he had messy curly, black hair, with narrow dark eyes. They also knew to steer clear from them since it was known that they liked to prove their strength and fight others even if they were from grades lower than them. How, they still remained in the Academy when they did this without provocation was a mystery to him.

"Oi. Look who we have here." Tori said as he grabbed Naruto by the front of his white shirt and Naruto quivered in fear as he realized that this was not going to end well for him. They appeared to be in a bad mood already. Fran who was a good distance away sighed as he could already see where this outcome was going. Not to mention none of their nannies were even going to do anything to stop this unless things got serious enough to the point they may die or be seriously injured.

"Seems like someone is looking for a fight you guys." Fran watched calmly although inside he was getting pretty annoyed at how stupid and cliché this seemed. He also didn't want to waste time with a petty school fight so he discreetly, made illusionary snakes appear from the bushes near them. Some of the students that were in that area upon seeing the snakes began screaming.

As they ran the bullies didn't seem to pay attention to what was going on and as Tori was going hit Naruto he paused as someone yelled snake. By that time, he and his friends had snakes near their feet. Having noticed this Tori dropped Naruto and ran off, he and the rest of them were very fearful of snakes it seemed. Fran took note of that fact and approached Naruto who was staring at the pale white, and patterned snakes approaching him fearfully.

Sasuke who was hiding in a nearby tree watched and had a few kunai ready to hit the snakes if they got closer to Naruto or Fran. However, he paused as Fran took both Naruto and him by surprise as he calmly picked up each snake and released them back into the bushes. He even picked up the ones that were on Naruto.

Naruto sat still as Fran picked up each snake and the two that were on him and those near him. The other snakes were somewhere far away but near other bushes. As he saw that, he made a mental note to be careful near bushes now.

"Oi. Fishcake, how long are you going to stay there like a statue?" Fran asked as he picked up Naruto by his wrist. Naruto grimaced as he remembered that Fran had touched the snakes. Fran seeing this mentally rolled his eyes.

"Go join Duckbutt in the tree Fishcake. I'll join you later." Fran said as he walked back towards the building, he would have to make a show of having to wash his hands since given by Naruto's expression he was not comfortable. It would also bring him some distance from those that had watched what he was doing, so he wouldn't have to answer questions.

He also knew that little stunt was going to bring questions about what happened to those snakes and how they got there since the academy teachers made certain there were no dangers to the children in the grounds. It would bring the question of where they went since they were illusions and he had made them disappear as soon as they were in the bushes. As he continued on his way, he didn't notice two pairs of red colored eyes, observing him contemplatively.

* * *

"So…how long are you two going to be upset with me it's been three weeks already." Yume asked as she shifted uncomfortably in Itachi's home as the three boys were outside playing. Shisui hadn't spoken to her for three weeks now, and had pranked her a few times too, while Itachi just shrugged. In truth both weren't angry or upset with her anymore but that didn't mean they wouldn't have payback of some sort planned.

Although, Itachi did think it was about time they stopped since they had made her feel uncomfortable long enough. Shisui didn't appear to be the same but did relent as he ruffled her hair to which she glared at him.

Itachi then turned to stare at the boys as they were now panting tiredly. Well, his brother was while Naruto still appeared to have energy to spare, while Fran was standing there tired, and sweaty but not panting. Fran then turned to look gaze at Itachi and both had a staring contest. Itachi was the first to relent and when he turned to gaze back at Shisui and Yume he felt himself sweat drop.

Shisui was sitting on top of Yume and she seemed irritated but didn't push him off, already used to Shisui using his age and weight to his advantage for these situations. From his sitting position on the wooden deck of the house Itachi merely shook his head. Some things never changed it seemed.

He watched as Shisui then proceeded to tickle Yume's sides and she began to giggle. "ACK! Pfft! Noo! Sto-Stop!" She managed to say as she was reduced to a laughing mess as she did her best to stop. Apparently she was very ticklish and he watched on amused. It was times like these that he cherished when he wasn't so busy with missions and could spend some time with his friends and family.

After some time of watching Shisui unrelentingly, tickle her he decided to put a stop to it. The kids having heard Yume's giggles had merely watched what Shisui was doing and while they would have joined they had a feeling they'd get the same treatment. Or rather Sasuke and Naruto did while Fran was sighing inwardly at the whole thing but outwardly his expression didn't change.

"Shisui that's enough." Shisui pouted at Itachi but didn't stop.

"Aw! But Ita-chan!" Itachi twitched at the name. "Let me have fun with her." Yume through all this was trying to breath but she couldn't stop giggling. Itachi shook his head and gave him a stern stare.

"Enough Shisui. She can't breathe." Shisui reluctantly stopped and got off of Yume. Yume clutched her stomach once she was free and stopped her giggles and took a few heavy breaths. "My stomach hurts…" She mumbled as she regained her normal breathing patterns and Itachi rolled his eyes as he picked her up by the arm.

"Then don't let him catch you in those situations." He stated and she glared at him. He could feel how soft her hair was as it brushed his neck, despite how much shorter it was now. For some reason that caused heat to rise up his neck and to his cheeks. This was brought more by the glare that Yume was shooting at him and he turned his head the other way.

"Well I couldn't since he was sitting on top of me and my hands. Not to mention you could've damn bloody helped."

"Hn." A cough was then heard and Itachi noticed that Shisui had a mischievous look about him while the kids had gotten closer and were gazing at him in wonder. That wonder soon changed and to what, Itachi didn't even bother to guess, not liking it one bit. Although, Fran's appeared to be more contemplative and serious than the looks Naruto and Sasuke had.

"So…when are you going to let go of Yume-nee, Weasel-chan?" Fran asked as he gazed at him with what seemed to be a glint of jealousy but it was Fran so it was hard to tell. He blinked as Fran's words registered and he noticed that his hand was still clutching Yume's arm. He fought down the heat developing in his cheeks and let go of her arm carefully. Not wanting to make it obvious that he was feeling embarrassed for some reason.

* * *

Yume was having a similar problem but not with the same amount of luck as Itachi. Her cheeks were lightly tinted pink, and thank god that could be passed off from laughing so much. If she were to be honest with herself, she would admit to the actual reason why she was blushing. However, she was not, and therefore, in denial as to the reason.

Sighing she grimaced at the look Fran was giving her and then groaned when she felt a cramp developing near the pit of her stomach. '…Shit. I so hate puberty.' This time a deep blush was evident as she realized she would have to speak with Mikoto about where she could get all the…feminine necessities she would need now.

"I need to speak with Mikoto-sama." She mumbled to all of them and went inside. For all she cared at the moment they would take that as a sign of her being embarrassed but that was not the case. In the Academy they had taught them on the happenings of puberty, as well what they could do to deal with that. This she had already known she was going to go through soon since A) she had gone through adolescence before, and B) her body had begun to change. They also explained on a way for Kunoichi to stop the blood flow by using a pill developed by Tsunade, one of the three legendary sannin.

Which was great but that was only used doing missions and after the mission was over and they stopped using the pill…well the effects wore off and yeah…Enough said. She was definitely not looking forward to this type of talk at all.

* * *

Fran watched as Yume walked away and noticed the shift in demeanor both older Uchiha had when she was gone. "Eh? Why is Yume-nee leaving Fran?" Naruto asked, his face clearly showing he didn't understand what was going on.

Fran shrugged. "She said she needed to speak with Mikoto-sama." He replied and sat down on the deck ignoring the contemplative looks they shot his way or the not-so subtle teases Shisui was throwing Itachi. Sasuke gazed at his brother as he held a small smirk on his face, that Fran thought looked weird. Naruto though, seemed disappointed for some reason mumbling something about not getting the chance to attack.

Fran hummed quietly as he glanced up, a habit he picked up from Yume. It was a shame he couldn't practice using his illusions as much as he used to before having to attend the Academy. Although, when he did escape his illusions certainly came in handy and he got his practice in.

However, he had to use them less ever since that incident a few days ago and he felt as If he was being watched. Which he definitely was given the nature of ninja. Speaking of ninja, it seemed that Yume would be having a new trouble to deal with when she finally admits something. More so when that idiot weasel also realizes it.

He inwardly scowled as he plucked grass from the ground. Even though she wouldn't admit it in the past or acknowledge it verbally to others but she has had a crush on someone before and that hadn't ended well for her. He didn't want that to happen to her again.

"Hey Fran what's got you so angry?" Naruto asked and Fran gave him a blank stare before resuming plucking the grass. 'Figures that fishcake would pick up on certain things but not on others. I don't know whether to think he's perceptive or not.' "I'm not angry."

"Fran's angry?" Sasuke asked as he turned to look at Fran picking off the grass calmly. He couldn't really tell by how he acted that he was. Naruto nodded.

"Yeah! Can't you tell?"

"…I can." Sasuke lied and crossed his arms not wanting to be outdone by Naruto or admit that he couldn't. Fran heard what they were saying but tried to ignore them. Keyword 'tried'. It wasn't long before Shisui ruffled his hair like how he did with Yume and he wished he had conjured his illusionary hat earlier.

"Cheer up. Instead of being angry want me to show you something cool?" Shisui asked and Fran noted that he was ignoring the serious look Itachi was shooting his way.

"Yeah!" Both Naruto and Sasuke shouted excitedly while Fran resigned himself to going along with what they were doing. Those two were always excited to see cool ninja stuff that Shisui sometimes showed them. To be honest though, they weren't that cool since they were toned down so to not cause damage to the clan compound.

'Ah. Why didn't I just stay home and practice my illusions.'

* * *

**M:Ta da! Chapter finished and while not advancing that much I think it was time necessary that I show how they act with each other. Also you all finally learned Yume's last name. Not only that but we had more Fran and Naruto in this chapter. Hopefully I can expand on their personalities well without making them too OOC since some changes are made just with Fran's and Yume's presence. Now back to Yume, I'll be doing my best to showcase her relationships with the people around her and from her home. That means my guest reviewer who seems to like the Tsuna x Yume ship there will be more memories and flashbacks if I do things well.**

**-Kaneko from what I looked up, means doubly accomplished child if used as a first name but since it's a surname I found that it can mean golden (or metal) child. So yeah. **

**Anywhoo. Hope y'all enjoyed this chapter Till next time. Ja ne!**

**animagirl: Passive characters I believe are one of the scarier types of people when pissed off, and we might just see her get that pissed off soon. And as for her being pissed off at Tsuna's bullies. Yup she did, although that wasn't until she began to get really attached to him.**

**xxOchibixx:I'm glad you seem to enjoy this fanfic, and well we'll see in the upcoming future when they reunite. **

**As for my second guest reviewer: She is and oh there is this scene I've been itching to write- err type- showcasing off her speed but all in due time. All in due time.**


	30. Chapter 30

**M: I do not own any of these series, but Yume I do.**

**Chapter 30**

Itachi observed Yume as she trained using Rai and Jin, firing light green bolts from the barrels, like a shower of rain. Except that this time, the rain was deadly, and made of lightning. To be honest, something about her explanation was off the first time but he didn't question it. Instead, taking it as she said but he remembered the look she had when she was fighting.

It was dark, and she seemed to be thrilled when fighting with them. Much more so than when she used the standard shinobi weapons, and there was something else he could not place. She seemed like a different person altogether, much more serious even when she had her first kill. There was no shock then, just a look of resignation before moving on.

Perhaps it was due to the fact that it was a much more serious life or death situation, since she was by herself. Probably. He did not want to think that she had a battle hungry side, which was different from how he was used to seeing her. She was usually so passive, but did argue with them from time to time, and seemed happier with them. Those were the times when she fully let herself enjoy their company, and be herself.

Itachi returned to gaze at Yume, his eyes having trailed the bolts from her weapons to the targets laid around them. Some far, and others even farther. She was now rubbing the back of her arms while frowning, a clear sheen of sweat covering her since it was early May, and the heat was starting to pick up already.

It wasn't as bad as Suna but it certainly became hotter than usual around this time. Thankfully the trees provided shade from the sun, and helped keep cool but it certainly didn't when one was in the crowded areas.

"Oi. Itachi, how long are you just going to stay there?" Yume shouted up at him as he gazed down at her from the tree. He gave a visible shrug and took note of the control of her attacks. A scorched hole was made in the bull's eye of the papered targets, and some of them had left holes in the tree. The fact that her attacks didn't cause a fire also spoke volumes of her control.

Which made him start to wonder why she didn't choose to be a Jonin already. She had the capabilities but she was so adamant about not moving up. She had already refused the invitation to compete in the Jonin tests she had been given. Something that Shisui had found out when he had asked the Hokage out of curiosity one day, about why she hadn't been promoted. Why the Hokage would tell him that was a mystery to him though.

Itachi had thought that it was due to her being out on long-term missions, or due to some other fact that she had not been given one. He felt a bit hurt that she did not share that information with them. "Well, why don't you get down and join me? It's been a long while since we sparred." She offered and as he gazed at her light brown eyes he looked away.

"Hn."

She sighed and gave him a bored glance. "Itachi, I can't imagine just sitting there watching me train is fun for you. I would think you'd choose to read or something right now."

'Not really. Watching you train is fascinating, and it helps me relax than just stay near the clan.' He thought as he felt himself grow tired just by thinking of the clan. Things were beginning to escalate and he feared that soon the clan would do something drastic. It didn't help that the villagers were beginning to fear them more, and gaze at them wearily wherever they went. His father and the other adults weren't helping in that matter either, and were beginning to pressure and influence him and the other young Uchiha members.

Yume seemed to follow his thoughts or at least had a grasp on them, since she gave him a sympathetic look. He knew she knew there was something going on in the village and the Uchiha. It was painfully obvious with how most treated her, the kids, and the rest of the Uchiha. Civilians weren't that exceptional in hiding their true feelings, at least not to trained shinobi. She also seemed to know that there was pressure being placed on him and Shisui recently, at least more so than before.

However, she didn't let those things change her attitude towards him or his clan. She was still the same, treated them no differently than before. As if their clan name, didn't signify that she should be wary of them, that she should alienate them for their heritage. These things led for a warmth to swell in him, and he couldn't quite place the emotion.

For all that he's seen emotion in others, it was difficult for him to sometimes identify his own emotions. He knew he felt close to her, despite not having spent that much time together recently, or all the secrets she had but… 'She's never really looked at me with high expectations. Rather, someone similar to her. More ahead than other's in our age group but still human no less.' Which in hindsight he knew it was true she didn't want him to act more mature, rather she accepted him the way he was. Not forcing him to change his ways, or be someone else.

A hand was waved in front of his face and he blinked, his mind focusing back to reality. "Earth to Itachi. You still with me?" She asked softly and she frowned at him worriedly. Gazing at him critically, taking note of his appearance. She more than likely had already noticed the bags beginning to form under his eyes, and the deepening of his tear troughs. "You look bad Itachi. When was the last time you slept?"

He shrugged. "Hn." Sighing she shook her head. "You know just because you're in ANBU doesn't mean that you should forgo sleep when you can. Especially with everything going on." He gave her a look and she smiled sheepishly a bit. "Yes, I know it's hypocritical but still." He wasn't surprised she had figured out he was in ANBU, it wasn't forbidden to tell immediate family or close friends that they were in ANBU, so long as they didn't reveal as to which ANBU they were.

She sat down next to him and hummed softly, the tune so familiar now to his ears, and something he realized she did unconsciously. The tune was happy in way he supposed, and he had a feeling of pride. He leaned back against her shoulder and she rolled her eyes. He soon felt himself start drifting to sleep.

* * *

Yume continued to hum, ignoring the sticky sensation of being covered in sweat and felt Itachi fall asleep as his chakra became more calm. Signaling that he was unconscious for the most part now. She had wanted to ask him why he hadn't done anything to help Naruto the other day when she had passed by the academy and she could barely make out his and Shisui's chakra signature.

But she didn't, figuring that with how the situation was right now, it would not be the wisest choice. Not to mention they were probably under orders to not interfere, and observe. Obtaining data and the likes. Still it didn't mean she liked it, but she couldn't fault them for something out of their control.

Her shoulders slumped and she closed her eyes. It has been about seven weeks now, and still nothing appeared to be done about Naruto's situation. Which was honestly beginning to irritate her, and the behaviors of others was also beginning to become annoying. It was really starting to stress her out, that was one of the reasons she had practiced for over two hours with Rai and Jin to relax.

Which had worked but now she was covered in sweat, and mildly tired. Something she was used to by now. Her gaze turned back to Itachi's sleeping form and couldn't help but let her thoughts wander. With everything that had been going on, she didn't even think about the upcoming future for Tsuna. It was only till recently that she had thought on what her disappearance would do to his plans.

She bit her lip as she hugged her knee and rested her head on her shin. She wished that those thoughts hadn't entered her mind now of all times.

* * *

**A few weeks before her disappearance**

"Yume-chan, you know Reborn will kill you if he finds out you drank his stash of coffee." Tsuna said in an amused tone, but held a hint of concern for he knew Reborn will have revenge somehow. She rolled her eyes and continued to drink.

"So? It's not as if he can actually kill me..." She paused. "Although…he will make sure he damn close does. Not to mention it will be in the most painful way possible knowing him." She added in a calm tone but deep inside she feared what he would do. As she sipped more of the coffee, she relaxed against the chair in front of Tsuna's desk. Currently he was finishing signing more of the documents she brought, containing all the reports from the company, and missions he assigned her to do.

"I don't doubt it." He chuckled as he continued signing off and reviewing the reports. She smiled as he chuckled and held back her own mirth. Knowing that Reborn might have camera's or find out somehow if she did, only making her punishment worse. "Speaking of Reborn, I've told him that to clear his schedule in three weeks."

"Ah right, your birthday is coming up." She hummed as he nodded. "Hm…it'll be nice to have everyone together again. "She giggled as she thought about the antics that will definitely occur. He gave her a look and shook his head.

"I agree. But I just hope they don't destroy everything this time." He muttered as he finished reading over a file.

"Hm…doubtful." She said and she noticed his fingers twitch.

"I'm trying to optimistic here Yume-chan." He grumbled. "Especially since I have an announcement to make." She raised her brow at this. 'Announcement?' She thought and waited for him to elaborate. He didn't and she gazed at him hard.

"So…what is this announcement Tsuna?" She asked and he gave her a small smile.

"Sorry, but you'll just have to wait and see." She pouted at that. He merely rolled his eyes at her childish behavior as he placed his pen down and stretched his arm up. As he did that she noticed how his suit, hid the muscles underneath. She shifted her eyes away and she got a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"Oh, perhaps you're hiding the fact that you're having an engagement announcement." She joked as she gazed at him with a smile on her face. He blushed and looked away. This made her pause but held the smile in place. "Ohhoh! So it is an engagement announcement." She leaned forward on his polished wooden desk, placing her almost empty cup of coffee on top, and he mumbled. "Sorry, but I'm not telling."

"Aww! But Tsuna!" She gave him a pout as he kept avoiding her gaze. She sighed after a few moments and crossed her arms with a playful huff. "Ugh! Fine, I can take a hint. You don't trust me." Standing up she mocked glared at him. "I'll be taking my leave then."

He smiled and waved at her, knowing she was just pretending to be angry. "Bye Yume. Ah and don't forget to send Hayato-kun here."

"Hai. Hai." She responded and gave him a backwards wave with a smile on her face, as she left the room. Once the doors closed, she let her smile drop and her shoulders slump. 'So…he's going to be married…Not that I didn't suspect that.' She shook her head, trying not to let depressing thoughts cloud her mind. 'No. I should be happy for him. Happy. Say it with me, me. HAPPY!'

"I should probably go look for Gokudera-kun now. Instead of standing here like an idiot." She muttered as she kept telling herself to be happy. Ignoring the sharp pang in her chest, and moisture in her eyes.

* * *

Now she wondered what had happened. He never got the chance to make the announcement, and with her gone, she doubted it would be the same. She sighed dejected as she scolded herself about worrying about her internal problems right now. She should be focusing on helping Naruto, and figuring out what to do with everything else.

'If only things could be less complicated.' She thought to herself tiredly. How long has it been since she slept? Three, maybe four days? She had been taking guard duty at one of the village gates, and hadn't rested due to waiting for any information on possible leads to the other two. However, nothing as of yet, and she had begun to feel restless. Which was another reason why she had taken to training for so long.

She yawned and blinked tiredly, realizing she was more tired than she had thought. "Mm. Resting for a bit won't hurt…" She muttered as she closed her eyes and leaned on the tree's trunk. Soon she too was sleeping, alongside Itachi.

It would be to this scene that Shisui came across when he located them an hour later. "Ah. I wish I had a camera to record this." Shisui muttered as he observed them amused. "Well, I better get you guys off before one of you falls." Neither answered as a gust of wind blew through the air.

* * *

Lambo stared annoyed at his surroundings, he was bored out of his mind at the moment since there was no one to play with him. He wasn't stupid enough to not notice that his guardian Jiro and his group were up to something dangerous. He had wanted to help but couldn't because they said he was too young.

Although he had a feeling that Yume told them to not let him get involved in their situation. Which made sense since he was physically weaker now that he was around six years old, but that still made him upset. She and everyone always treated him like a child, and admittedly spoiled him, something he loved. They cared for him so much but to be honest he wanted to be more useful and stronger to protect them as they protect him.

Speaking of Yume, he was missing her a lot right now. He wanted her to hold him, give him candy and smile sweetly at him. He teared up. "No…Gam…ba…te…I won't…cry." He mumbled to himself as he successfully stop the tears from getting out.

She would be back, he told himself. She usually kept her promises and did her best to fulfill them. And he hoped she would soon, because he was beginning to realize that coming here wasn't one of his best ideas. He was also starting to miss Mama, and everyone else too. "Hurry soon, Yume-nee…"

* * *

Naruto stared at the school board blankly as their sensei droned on and on about something he had no clue about. His focus shifting to thoughts of being outside. It would have been great to escape class again, but it was raining outside. And while he wouldn't mind the chance of being out of class, he didn't want to make Yume-nee worry about catching a cold. However, the chances were unlikely since he's never gotten sick. Still it's better not to risk it.

He glanced towards Fran who was just as bored as him and was currently doodling in his notebook. "Ne Fran?" He whispered as Fran's gaze shifted to him. "Hm?"

"What are you drawing?" Fran's gaze returned to his notebook and shifted it towards Naruto. "Huh…This is…cool?" Naruto said confused as he gazed at the rather detailed drawings of Aiko-sensei's death? Or were they simply revenge plots? Speaking of Aiko-sensei, she still hadn't finished her lesson which was dragging on for too long in his opinion.

Fran shrugged and returned to drawing, and Naruto observed the new things he was drawing and sweat dropped as the plots seemed to be getting more elaborate.

Before Naruto could question him again he jumped back startled as a hand slammed on the wood. "_Uzumaki!_" The name was spat out and the sensei glared at him. Naruto grimaced as spit landed on his face but stared up at their sensei. "You should be paying attention in class, not disturbing a fellow student. How _you_ passed into the academy is beyond me. Clearly your lack of focus in class, is a clear indication of how incompetent you are as a future shinobi of Konoha!"

Naruto didn't say anything, and stared at her blankly. She had been getting crueler, and meaner as the days went on, but she had never outright spoke to him like this, much less in front of the whole class. Most of the students giggled at his expense and whispered amongst themselves. He felt his face get red, and something bubbling up in his chest. He suddenly felt like yelling at her, and telling them all to shut up.

He then felt a hand press onto his shoulder comfortingly, and he turned to see Fran silently tell him to calm down. He then saw Fran turn his emotionless gaze to her. "Ne, Bitch-sensei. If we're on that subject then I have a question for you." He stated calmly, and continued to speak not letting her get a word in. "How on earth did _you_ become a sensei? _Clearly, your lack of professionalism, indicates how poorly suited you are for the job._ Picking on a child, how _pathetic_."

She stilled. "Excuse me?" She asked surprised that Fran, despite his usual blatant disrespect toward her, had never been this disrespectful, leaving her speechless.

"You're excused. A pathetic being, such as yourself, is unsuited for teaching a classroom of children. Scum like you, shouldn't even be near our vicinity." He stated as he stood up. "Come, Naruto. We'll be going now before we get contaminated with her stink." Naruto who had been watching the exchange, blinked quickly, and grabbed his stuff. Stuffing his paper and pencils quickly as he followed Fran's retreating back. Ignoring the tense, and confused looks the students gave each other during the whole exchange.

By the time they reached the door Aiko had recovered, appearing before them and screeched at the top of her lungs. "AND WHERE DO YOU THINK BOTH OF YOU ARE GOING? I MAY HAVE DONE NOTHING WHEN YOU SKIPPED BUT I'VE HAD IT. YOU BOTH WILL BE HAVING DETENTION, AND BE EXPELLED FROM THE ACADEMY!" This made both boys stop at her words. Naruto was torn, between leaving and getting away from her, and staying to not be expelled. Being a ninja and becoming Hokage has always been his dream but if he gets expelled he'll never make it. While having this internal debate he didn't notice Fran turn to glance at her, a chill creeping into the room.

Aiko couldn't help but feel smug as both boys were frozen, and clearly the demon brat was panicking over the situation. She couldn't help but feel victorious at his inner turmoil. Her smugness soon faded as she felt a chill run up her spine.

Danger. It spoke and she glanced around a bit before her eyes zeroed in on the teal haired boy before her. His gaze was calm as usual, but something, something kept her from looking away. Soon she started feeling as if she couldn't breathe. She was suffocating, and paralyzed by the lack of movement in her body.

"I'd just _love_ to see you try…bitch." He said and she couldn't help but keep her gaze rooted to his. His eyes…did they always glow like that? It was so unnerving how calm and void of emotion his voice was. He then turned around grabbing the back of Naruto's shirt and dragging him out.

As they left she stayed rooted to her spot, aware of the students whispering nervously behind her and she finally realized why she couldn't move. _Genjutsu._

Quickly dispelling it from her system, she felt as if she could breathe again but the chills still remained. Her face then heated up, as another realization hit her. She had just been dismissed, by a child in front of her class. Oh he had insulted her in class before, and even ignored her while teaching, but he always got high marks in class. So she had let his attitude slide, but he dismissed her. _HER!_ In front of her student's and this would affect how they behaved towards her.

Silently cursing she turned around, she would need to get control back and soon. Making note that she would have to request for their expulsion. Immediately, and she had no doubt that it would be easy with that demon brat. Clearly, he was the one influencing such a bright student to behave that way. If his use of genjutsu, which they had not even started teaching yet, was any indication that he would be exceptional in that area.

* * *

By the time Naruto and Fran were half-way home, Naruto realized that they were outside of the Academy. He wanted to panic, but he had to squash the urge down when he felt the tenseness around him. All the civilians walking by, made immediate beelines of going the opposite way or clearing their distance from them. Other's appeared to be hostile so panicking and yelling at Fran over the fact that they'd get expelled.

Biting his lip, he let himself get dragged the rest of the way home. Going by the time of day, around two, Yume was still on guard duty, and wouldn't be back till the evening around six. 'What are we going to do?' He thought worriedly as he trudged up the stairs, Fran having let go upon reaching the apartment complex. 'What are we going to do? I don't want to be expelled!'

Oh, Kami! How is Yume-nee going to take this? She will be disappointed I'm sure. She-' "Oof!" He said as he fell on his rear, when he bumped into Fran's still form. "What's the big idea Fran! We're already in enough trouble as it is! Can't this day…get any…worse…" His voice trailed off and slowed as two figures stood before them.

Fran he could tell was tense but otherwise seemed annoyed that they were blocking his way. Naruto stared at the rather calm looks, but rather serious looks Itachi, and Shisui were giving them. Naruto gulped as he eyed them nervously. They usually appeared more calm, and happy when he saw them. Especially Shisui, when they planned pranks together but there was none of that right now. 'They know. Oh Kami. They know and probably Yume-nee knows! Oh Kami! Oh Kami!'

His internal panic must have been obvious on his face as Shisui then cracked a small grin and patted his head. He flinched slightly, and gazed at them worriedly. Fran on the other hand didn't show any visible signs of panic if he had any.

"Hey squirts." Shisui said lightly as he watched them, especially Fran carefully.

"You know." It wasn't a question. Shisui gazed at Fran critically before sighing. Naruto bit his lip more, and shifted uncomfortably.

"Yes…and well. We are here to reassure you that everything is going to be fine. Don't worry ok?" He smiled comfortingly, more so at Naruto than Fran. Fran shrugged and gazed at them bored. Naruto merely smiled lightly, his worry not being eliminated at all.

Itachi sighed as he turned around and opened the door to their apartment. "You know that's considered trespassing Weasel-kun." Fran stated. "And how the hell did you open the door without a key? You know what never mind don't answer that." Fran said after Itachi gave him an incredulous look as if to say, I'm-a-ninja-duh.

Naruto looked confused for a moment at the conversation and decided not to think on it. Right now, all he wanted was to hide in his room, and put off from trying to tell Yume what happened. And while he could feel angry at Fran, he didn't. Fran did what he thought was correct, and got him away from taking anymore verbal abuse from their sensei. Could she be his sensei anymore?

Thinking this over he was startled when Shisui picked him up and carried him on his shoulder. "I'm not a baby anymore Shisui-nii!" He pouted as Shisui shot him a grin. "Still doesn't mean you don't act like one gaki."

"Do not!"

"Do too."

"Do not!"

"Do too."

"Do not. Shisui-nii, you're a liar."

"Do too, and no I'm not. You're just in denial." He countered and Naruto couldn't help but start feeling a bit at ease as they bantered. He barely even noticed as they made their way into the kitchen area. It wasn't until he was set down next to Fran that his worry returned.

* * *

Fran sighed, as he waited for Itachi and Shisui to get the point across about why they were there. He noted that Naruto was shifting in his seat, and that he hadn't stopped worrying about the whole situation. However, he himself wasn't worried about it. If his theory about what would happen is correct, then they won't be expelled and have another teacher.

They stayed quiet for a long while, and as Fran observed Shisui and Itachi calmly, they did the same towards him. Naruto was just the unfortunate one to be caught in the middle of this stare off. Shisui was the one to break the silence by coughing a bit.

"So…quite a show you put up Fran-kun." Shisui started and Fran shrugged.

"And?"

"Why did you do what you did? Couldn't you have taken a different approach."

"I could have, but I rather not be around a piece of scum like her for the next few hours anymore." He stated nonchalant like and Shisui sighed into his hand.

"Yes, and you made your point quiet clear there. Although, I never knew you could say those things. Yume never swears or says stuff like that to others." Fran shrugged again.

"That's her not me." Fran could see Shisui's eyebrow twitch in annoyance. "Anyways get to the point. I doubt my little_ show _as you put it, is the main reason for why you are here." Shisui gave a sheepish grin and Itachi took over.

"Very well. We're here to ascertain that you in fact used Genjutsu on your teacher."

"Oh…is that all? Yeah I did, it's nothing amazing."

"We're aware of that. However, the fact that you weren't given any proper or supervised Genjutsu training, is something to be taken to consideration. As well, as the fact this wasn't the first time you using it." Fran tilted his head slightly and looked as if to say go-on.

"The last time…with the snakes when Naruto was going to get beat and that time long ago." Fran didn't give a look of recollection. "When you traveled all the to Suna for the Chunin exams." Itachi continued only to given the same blank stare. However, Fran could tell that Itachi was getting annoyed with his lack of reaction and Shisui was just waiting for him to concede that what they said was true.

Amused he decided to not give them a reaction, waiting to see what they would do. He would not prove them right, no matter what. "Ah. Does that mean the butterflies were Genjutsu too?" Fran turned to gaze at Naruto, having forgotten he was there.

Shisui turned his gaze to Naruto. "Butterflies?" Naruto nodded quickly.

"Uhhuh! He found me and then talked to me, and then there were butterflies on me! There were so many but it was so weird for that to happen." Fran mentally glared at Naruto. "I remember I told Sasuke-Teme and Itachi was there when I did. Right?"

Itachi nodded as he thought back on that. "That is true…He did mention that." He narrowed his eyes at Fran who in turn mentally sighed but gave no outward indication that he knew he was caught. He would get his revenge on Naruto later. "Care to elaborate?"

Fran had a feeling it would be a long afternoon with how he was going to drag this all out, and make Naruto suffer along with him. "We have all afternoon you know, Fran." Shisui stated and Fran shrugged. 'As if I'm going to give in so easily. I'm going to make this as difficult for you.'

* * *

**M: So another chapter finished. Yay! There was more Naruto and Fran in this chapter, and more insight on them. Also on Itachi, and I should have done this and elaborated more on all their interactions with one another. **

**Also with the whole engagement Tsuna didn't get to announce it since it was semi-right her guess. He was actually going to propose, and guesses as to who it was is up to you all. But I know who it was. Tee hee.**

**Anyways again hope all of you enjoyed! **** Till next time!**

**P.S. I'm going to be doing some research on romance *cough cough* reading Shoujo *cough cough* since I'm don't know a six pence on actual romance. Meaning, yeah…never been in a relationship…sooo I'll be doing my best on that aspect of the story when it comes full swing. Although I don't really want to make it too much of the plot. **

**P.P.S. Sorry if I don't respond sometimes to your reviews, I'm just unsure of how to respond to them so, sorry again. **

**Guest: You are most welcome! **


	31. Chapter 31

**Disclaimer: I only own Yume and any OC I make but other than that I don't own KHR or Naruto.**

**Warnings: Swearing and blood in this chapter**

**Wake Not a Sleeping Lion**

When Yume entered her apartment around sunset, she had already known that the boys were all together. However, what she did not expect was to come across a very awkward and tense scene. She felt her eyebrow twitch in exasperation as she felt a headache starting to rise. 'Ugh. Just what I needed right now.'

She cleared her throat. Nobody moved, ignoring her existence completely, well except Naruto to exact. He appeared relieved at her arrival and wanted to run towards her but didn't due to his fear of making things even more awkward. She sighed tiredly and broke the silence.

"So…anyone mind telling me what's going on?" She asked and they all turned to look at her.

"Nothing." Itachi.

"Just having a nice chat is all." Shisui.

"Yume-nee, they're interrogating me." Fran. She looked at them blankly in annoyance as she rubbed her temple. God, was this exasperating, and she had no doubt what Fran was saying was the truth. Deciding to ignore Itachi and Shisui for the moment she questioned Fran with a look.

"Because they caught me using genjutsu, and the other times as well…and they also seem to know that I purposely am not doing well in school. Seems like they want me to do better and then Ugly, will be my Shishou so I can specialize in Genjutsu." She glanced towards Shisui and Itachi now and gave them a look.

Itachi appeared slightly sheepish and looked away, although it was hard to tell with how well he could control his emotions. Shisui on the other hand gave her an apologetic look as he rubbed the back of his head while smiling nervously. "Oops?"

Exasperated, she shook her head. "Elaborate."

"Erm…well…" Shisui began, feeling cautious on how to explain. He felt as if he said anything wrong he'd be stepping on a landmine. He took a deep breath. "The situation with their homeroom teacher exploded, I guess you can say, and she threatened them with expulsion. Fran then put her in a genjutsu along with being very clear what he thought of her threat. There's no need to worry about them being expelled but it's unadvisable for them to go to school for a bit."

"Not a problem, and what is it about making him your apprentice? Surely, you guys aren't trying to advance him in grade are you." She was not in a good mood, and he could tell. Smiling nervously, he shook his head.

"Not exactly. We just wanted to confirm that he's been using Genjutsu for some time now. As for advancing him we're not. However, that doesn't mean teachers and others won't, and as for him being my apprentice…that won't happen till he graduates." She narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips. What he said wasn't a lie and with the whole revelation coming to light, some of the higher ups wouldn't want to waste time for such use of his talents.

"You were aware of his abilities beforehand weren't you Yume." Itachi stated as her gaze shifted to him and she shrugged.

"What would it matter if I knew."

"It would matter to the council and other officials that you never said anything. The question is, why didn't you say anything."

She crossed her arms and leaned back on the wall. "And I have no reason to answer that question. But if you must know, I didn't want to put Fran in risky situations yet. I'm not stupid Itachi, the line of work isn't without risks. Even more so at a young age, and I will not take that risk that something will happen to Fran. If Naruto was in the same position, I would do the same thing and keep it from the higher ups. I will not allow them to be cannon fodder." She shot them a glare, her headache becoming more painful as she kept most of her irritation at bay.

Itachi and Shisui glanced at each other. Both silently communicating what they should do before glancing back at her and nodding. Itachi could relate to her need on keeping her little brothers safe, and Shisui respecting while also understanding her point of view.

"Very well. We won't tell that you knew, but unfortunately, we have to report about Fran's prior use in Genjutsu to the Hokage." They couldn't disobey orders after all and she sighed.

"Whatever, I get it. Now for the love of Kami, get out. I have a killer headache and currently you all are causing me to get irritated." Itachi sighed but gave her small nod in apology as Shisui gave her another apologetic smile before both disappeared with a poof.

Yume didn't bother glancing toward the table where Fran and Naruto were, very well aware that both had escaped while she spoke with her friends. Right now, she needed to relax, and rest. She didn't want to snap at Naruto or Fran because of how upset she was or how much her head was killing her at the moment.

Fran looked forward innocently, as he sat in a chair in front of the Hokage. Who was studying him with a critical eye, despite his old age, Fran knew that he was not weak or a fool. So placing any illusions to get out of this situation would only bring him more attention that what he already had. He wasn't an idiot and he had heard about the rumors going on about him and Naruto on the what had occurred.

Sometimes Fran wondered if the only things civilians, and some shinobi ever had free time to do was gossip. His attention was brought back as the Hokage began to speak. "Naruto tells me that you defended him from your teacher. Watanabe-san."

He shrugged. "I wouldn't call it defend as much as getting away." The Hokage chuckled lightly as he smiled grandfatherly as he would towards Naruto.

"He's also told me all about your little escapades, and what you do to defend him. Although, he's not entirely happy with the latter. Says he can defend himself, and such."

"Of course, I know Fishcake can." He responded and continued as he knew the Hokage wanted him to explain himself. "But because I know that the teachers would only place the entre fault on him, I get rid of the problems." He finished as if he was simply talking about the weather.

The third gave a tired smile as he knew what Fran said was the truth. It pained him to know that no matter what he had tried to minimize the damage others might do to Naruto, it wasn't working as well as he thought. He had chosen Watanabe, for he had believed she would handle things professionally but she hadn't. He hadn't even known that it was going on for a while until Yume had brought it to his attention, apparently the other teachers and shinobi stationed around hadn't thought to bring the issue to him.

"That is unfortunately true, but there is no real need to worry on that matter from now." The lack of response didn't come as a surprise to him and so he continued on without missing a beat. "You will be receiving a new sensei soon, but that isn't the only thing I asked for you and Naruto."

* * *

"Obviously, and that is why you sent Fishcake in and out before me. Geez, you're such a cunning old geezer aren't you. If this is about the whole genjutsu thing get it on and over with already. I have more important things to do." He didn't actually, but he really didn't want to be here any longer than he had to.

The elder man was amused rather than offended by his words and Fran could tell. "Very well then. As you have surmised from the chat you had with Itachi and Shisui, it has come to my attention as well as other officials about your prowess in illusions."

"Tell me something I don't know."

He chuckled as he shook his head, his gaze looking at him sadly. "Most want me to place you in more advanced classes, having figured out you are more knowledgeable than you let on. However, I must know what your opinion on this is." Fran allowed a very small frown appear on his face as he looked at the old man.

He could see that he had so much regret in his eyes, and had no doubt more regret would befall on hm. He sighed quietly as he gave a shrug. "Personally, I don't care about taking more advanced classes. "

"But?"

"I don't want to worry Yume-nee." He admitted, leaving out that she also worried on that fact. Having no doubt that the Hokage was already aware of her opinion. "Which is why I don't work so much, so long as I have the knowledge already what does it matter that I don't do so well in class." Fran watched as the Hokage contemplated his response.

"I see your point, but doing well in your classes allows for us to gauge how advanced you are."

"I know, but I'm not going to change my answer." Both were at a standstill. It wasn't until the Hokage sighed once more that Fran knew he had won this round. Pont 1 for Fran, 0 for the Hokage.

"Both you and your sister can be very stubborn in your decisions." Fran gave a shrug once more as he looked around the wide office room. "However, don't let that stubbornness become an obstacle when moving forward."

"Duly noted." Fran said as the Hokage gave a nod and turned his gaze towards the doors as they opened.

"Ah, Itachi, Shisui. I was expecting you." Fran's shoulders sagged as he mumbled. "Oh great…it's them." Both Itachi and Shisui shot Fran irritated glances before bowing respectfully to the Hokage. Fran got off the chair and made his way passed the two older boys. Or rather he would have if wasn't stopped as the Hokage continued to speak. "Fran won't be advancing in classes but I expect for you, Shisui, to train him more on Genjutsu after classes. Of which Fran, you will resume next week Monday."

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

Fran stood still as he looked between the Hokage and said male. 'Damn. They had this already planned.' Fran thought in irritation but it didn't show on his face. He felt Shisui's gaze boring on his back and placed his hands in the pockets of his shorts. He didn't like this at all.

The Hokage stood up and turned to look at the window, and he frowned. "I'm sorry to ask this of you, after I summoned you for another reason Itachi but can you escort Fran back? I will debrief Shisui and he will relay everything to you."

He felt the young boy give a nod as he also sensed the stares of the other two occupants on him as well. Both were observing, although one was warier. A small smile formed on his face, it was that same wariness his sister had.

It wasn't until Itachi and Fran left that he began to speak. "How are things coming along?"

"Not good." The other admitted quietly. "It had been going well for a while, and it seemed the issue would be resolved but…more rumors began to spread again. They are angry once more and most of the Uchiha's that worked with civilians are starting to close themselves off. "

"I see…" He sighed as he felt the urge to smoke take over him. He needed to relax but this wasn't the time for that now. "Unfortunately, not much progress has been made on our side either. Many of the other clans have become wary as of recently. While it may have just been civilians before, now even the clans…"

"…"

"However, that does not mean we will stop trying, another meeting will be held soon, and with luck it may lead to a resolve."

"Hopefully…Hokage-sama. If I may speak?" Shisui asked and he gave a nod without looking back. "Would it be possible that someone is setting this up? I know that we weren't viewed in much of a good light before and even less since the Kyuubi but…it can't be a coincidence that these rumors have been spreading rapidly without cause."

"You aren't wrong in assuming that, and we have looked into that. However, every trail we have ends up in a dead end…If someone is truly behind this then they are excellent in erasing any evidence that would incriminate them. And even if we could eliminate them the damage has been done."

"..."

* * *

Naruto had run out of the Hokage's office as soon as he was let go, and while he would have waited for Fran, he doubted he could have stayed in one area for long. Especially since he had more free time again and he wouldn't have to worry about classes for a while.

Oh he still wanted to be Hokage and knew that he had to take the classes but what was the entire point if his own teacher wouldn't teach him anything. He didn't doubt that the others would do the same.

"Why can't I be treated the same?" He muttered to himself as he walked into one of the back alleys to the apartment. This path was much easier for him to go through, since there were hardly, if ever, any people glaring his way. These were the roads he took when he was by himself.

As he continued on his way he suddenly felt a suffocating aura, and a hateful glare. He flinched and muttered to himself. "It's not a ghost It's not a ghost." Still the aura persisted and when he turned back he felt relieved but at the same time even more scared. Before him stood a dark haired woman, and oh god. Why did she look like she wanted to murder him?

* * *

Watanabe Aiko had had a shitty day, and it had all been because of that demon brat. She growled lowly to herself, her plain face turning ugly, as she continued to scowl. All because of that brat, she had lost her position as teacher for an unspecified amount of time. And to top it off she would be sent to one of the border outposts in the meantime.

She did not want to be there since it was known that outside of patrol some of the things she enjoyed would not be available. No shopping centers, comfortable beds, nothing of that sort. And to make matters worse, she just had to spot the source of her problems.

She glared more conveying all her disdain and hate at him but soon her scowl changed. It changed to a dark smirk. He was the source of her problems, and so he should pay for it. Grabbing a kunai from her holster on her ankle she followed, being careful as to not be seen and making a quick henge just in case.

She would not kill him but oh would she come close to it. He would suffer for everything he had done. The demon brat, it was his fault some of her students had become orphans and some of her colleagues' deaths as well. She could feel all her hate and anger surfacing. 'IT'S ALL HIS FAULT!'

Her smirk widened as he paused and began to mutter to himself afraid. It wasn't until he turned back that he saw her and she felt satisfaction at his fear. He was scared because of her and she could see his eyes, eyeing fearfully at the kunai in her hand. It would be too risky in using jutsu at the moment but weapons on the other hand… Her smirk widened further. "Finally noticed eh demon?"

The blonde boy shook as he took several steps back. "What…what do you want?" He asked and she growled. It dared to ask her in such a human like tone.

"What do I want? What do I WANT?" Her voice rose as she continued. "What I want is for everything to go back to the way it was! It's all your fault! EVERYTHING IS YOUR DAMN FAULT! AND FOR THAT I WILL MAKE YOU PAY YOU FUCKING DEMON!" She aimed her weapon taking great pleasure at the wide eyed look the blonde was giving her as she threw her kunai straight towards him.

* * *

She sighed as she rubbed her forehead. Again she was dealing with so much at once, and thankfully her shift ended around mid-day this time. She doubted she could stand on guard duty while her mind kept wandering on all the issues going on. Not to mention she still hadn't heard anything from Jiro. It would be good to know if they found out anything or came back empty.

Sighing once more Yume shook her head, as she made her way home through the roofs. It wouldn't do good to show how stressed she was to her friends and little brothers. Although, she doubted she'd fooled Fran these past few days since he had noticed the prominent bags underneath her eyes. Naruto thankfully didn't notice that much but he did make it a point to not be so loud or messy as of recently. As for her friends, she hadn't seen them as of four days ago which had been a Friday. 'And good riddance too. I wouldn't want to hear what Shisui would have to say about my lack of sleep. Nor would I want to keep feeling Itachi's disapproving look but he's not one to talk either. Ugh.'

She was brought out of her thoughts as she felt Naruto's chakra heading back to the apartment but she paused, causing herself to almost miss a step and falling, as she sensed another's chakra signature tailing him. She frowned as she had sensed it before, and knew it was from one of the academy teachers, but as to who she had no clue. This worried her for she knew none of those stupid teachers looked kindly on Naruto.

Feeling trepidation, she changed her direction towards Naruto quickly, moving at a faster pace. She did not have a good feeling about this and she would have to get Naruto away as fast as she could. It didn't take long before she reached Naruto just as his chakra became more erratic. He was scared and she could see why.

There was a woman, clearly a Konoha kunoichi, and she was quite a distance away from Naruto but the look she was giving him. It was murderous. She stood still, taking in the situation, no one had ever outright attacked them in the open like this in Konoha. There had been remorseless remarks, selling faulty objects, selling them rotten and spoiled food, and outright denying them from their stores. But she had gotten passed that by using the henge technique, and not going to the stores that had done that to them.

That she could stand to some level, but she hated it when it was done more blatantly towards Naruto. She and Fran could take care of themselves, they were mafia after all, but Naruto… 'He still hasn't faced the dangers and risks we have.' She thought as she narrowed her eyes, her anger rising as she heard the woman speak. Her plan was to simply get Naruto away from her, and avoid anything that would get him in trouble and as she was about to quickly grab Naruto she heard something that had made her snap.

"-What I want is for everything to go back to the way it was! It's all your fault! EVERYTHING IS YOUR DAMN FAULT! AND FOR THAT I WILL MAKE YOU PAY YOU FUCKING DEMON!" The next thing she saw was the kunai heading towards Naruto and without thinking threw one of her own, intercepting it. At the same time, she jumped down in front of Naruto and checked him.

He didn't move, too shocked about what was going to happen and she growled. How dare she try and hurt him. A child for crying out loud. 'I've had enough of this shit. I'm tired, fucking annoyed, and to top it off, this woman is trying to hurt my little brother!' She turned around glaring, at the woman who appeared shocked at her appearance.

The shock soon wore off and the woman scowled. "How dare you interrupt me! Can't you see I was going to get rid of the source of the problems! He's a demon." As she continued to speak Yume lowered her head, her bangs covering her eyes as her fists clenched. "HE'S THE FUCKING DEMON THAT KILLED EVERYONE! HE-"

"SHUT UP!" She yelled interrupting the clearly crazy woman. "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Demon this! Demon that! Is that all you people can say!" The woman gazed at her wide eyed, as she looked at the light brown eyes, that appeared to be lightly glowing. "Can't you see that the_ Demon_ as you all accuse is a child! Not a demon but a child! A child that has done nothing wrong and has never killed in his life!" Her voice then lowered as she noticed her voice was getting louder almost to the point of shouting. "On the contrary, I would say the demon here is you."

Her voice was softer this time, but it cut clear through the distance and the other women was brought out of her stupor at her accusation. The dark black eyes, then brimmed with hatred. "I get it now. You're a demon lover. You don't care about what that monster did to me, or the village. Then as a Kunoichi of Konoha, I will kill you both myself! I wi-" A sickening crunching sound was heard, as metal made contact with her face, breaking her nose.

Yume stood where the other Kunoichi had been Jin, held up in the air, covered in blood. Yume barely registered in her mind that she had summoned both her weapons unconsciously as her mind was clouded with anger. "I'm fucking annoyed right now. You clearly missed the whole damn bloody point on him not being a demon. And to top it off, do you know how fucking tired I am right now?" She moved closer towards the Kunoichi who was leaning against the wall, holding her nose and clearly in pain. "So fucking tired, that I'm seriously not going to put up with any of this crap. Nor the crap from a lowly piece of scum. Attacking a child, attacking my little brother, my family, is something I don't take lightly."

She dodged projectiles that were aimed at her and quickly got in front of the other female, aiming a chakra enhanced kick, only to miss and leaving a deep crack on the wall instead. Without wasting a second, she pushed herself back from the wall, where the other female had replaced herself with some trash that was near Naruto. Before the other could even form any hand seals she smashed both her guns on the woman's hands. Another sickening crunch was heard. The woman gasped in pain and Yume smirked darkly. She'd dared to try and cause her little brother and so she would pay.

As she aimed Rai towards her, she failed to notice that the woman's henge, had disappeared, or the strangled noise Naruto made as he was finally over his shock. No, she wasn't thinking at all, only gazing at the woman in hate. However, before she could fire Rai she felt, thin, deceptively, strong arms hold her arms behind her.

Growling to herself once more, she made a head-butt motion back but it failed as the other shifted his stance and held her very close and tightly. "Yume, enough." The voice behind her was familiar and she stilled her struggles from getting out of his grip. Faintly realizing that Rai and Jin had fallen from her grip.

She didn't say anything as she clearly looked at the scene before her. The woman's, henge had disappeared and she could see that the woman appeared similar to Naruto's and Fran's teacher. Or rather it was her but due to the broken nose and blood marring her face, it was difficult to tell. She felt her anger rise again but that feeling died down as she heard Fran behind her.

"Oi. Yume-nee I think you scared Fishcake to the point he's lost consciousness." That caused her to pale as her eyes widened. 'Oh fuck.' In her rage, she had forgotten that Naruto was there, which was idiotic of her and as she glanced towards Naruto's unconscious figure in Fran's arms. "Oh, and good job by the way. I give you a 10/10." He said as he looked at the woman, who had passed out by now due to the pain.

She didn't comment as she stared with wide eyes at what she had done. She'd be lucky if Naruto wasn't scared of her after this, and she felt guilty on not taking him some place safe first. Hopefully, she hadn't traumatized him either for that was the last thing that she wanted.

She then felt Itachi slowly loosen his hold on her but remained close just in case she went on a rampage again. She ignored that fact, and avoided looking him in the face. She didn't want to see the expression he might be giving her at the moment. She then glanced towards the unconscious and bloody form of Watanabe again and closed her eyes. "I'm calm…"

"…" A long silence ensued. It would have continued longer if not for a calm, apathetic voice cutting through the silence.

"…So anyone going to actually do something now? Don't get me wrong, I'd love to watch her suffer in pain once she wakes but I doubt that will go well in the end. Oh, and weasel-chan, you owe me a whole week's worth of sweets now."

Two pairs of eyes turned to look at the teal haired boy, who in turn shrugged. "What? It's not as if I'm wrong am I?" Yume sighed as she should have expected Fran's reaction. And he was right, goodness knows how much repercussions she was going to have to deal with now. However, as she couldn't exactly bring herself to be completely remorseful. 'It's going to be a long day…' She thought grimly as she sensed Shisui approach. 'A very long day…'

**M: Kyahahaha! And there you have it folks! Another chapter finished and as you all noticed small time skips lately. And I don't really know how much longer these small times skips will occur but oh well. And as for the small fight scene, if it can be called that, I tried my best. Hopefully I didn't disappoint. As for pairings, I suppose I will be straight up. I'm sorry to say for some of you that in the end it will be Itachi x Yume but, but! Don't leave just yet! There are hints of Tsune x Yume for other reasons. If you all hadn't guess or already figured out she has a somewhat onesided love for him and as to what I mean by somewhat will be revealed…eventually. As for Tsuna x Kyoko or Tsuna x Haru, well, the reason why I'm okay with either pairing is because in the anime and manga I felt that their characters were never developed much. Which is why I'm going to elaborate and develop more of them when I can.**

**Also we're nearing that awful event soon for the Uchiha's As for how it'll go down I'm still uncertain but wiith the changes that have been made with Yume there, it will be AU a bit for now, as well as other factors in the story. Well with that said, till next chapter guys. Ja ne~**

**P.S. Again I'm so sorry for dashing some of y'alls hopes for Tsuna and Yume! In the beginning it was just going to be Itachi x Yume and her relationship with Tsuna was just sibling like, but everything ended up developing like this. Again sorry! I don't like making people sad, or disappointing them but this couldn't be helped.**

**animagirl: Ehheh, actually I had been waiting for this scene to show off a really angry Yume. Although it slightly deviated a bit from how much she was angry. And yeah, they do, they are ultimately my favorite anime group. I can't help but love them all, in fact I can't really think of any character that I dislike from there.**

**Snickering Fox: Everything will be revealed in time…is what I'd like to say but yeah. He would have but he didn't or rather couldn't so she didn't know.**

**Guest: As I said earlier, above, I'm so sorry forgive me.**

**Guest: I'm sorry I made you feel that way! And I understand why you feel that way, maybe if her character had been expanded on it would be easier to accept Tsuna x Kyoko, but…I kinda get why it wasn't. The manga nor the anime were really meant to focus on love. I apologize again for making you feel that way**


	32. Chapter 32

**M:Disclaimer-I don't own Naruto or KHR**

Yume opened the door to the Naruto's hospital room, ignoring the urge to smash her head on the wall repeatedly, hoping it would help ease the painful headache she had right now. Only, that would just make it worse.

As she stepped inside she took note that Itachi was leaning back on the wall, seemingly asleep just like his brother and Fran were on the small table on the side of the room. However, she knew better, he was far from asleep. Point emphasized when she felt his gaze follow her as she closed the door and moved towards the hospital bed, not once glancing to her teammate .

She gazed at Naruto's sleeping figure and caressed his small cheeks in affection, a small smile on her face. He was physically well it would appear. Her smile then turned into a frown. Oh god, what if she caused him trauma because of what he'd seen at this young age. What then?

Before this train of thought could continue a voice broke the silence of the room. "He's fine for the moment, although, he will remain under watch for a while once he awakens and be monitored to see if he has developed any trauma."

"…I see." Was all she said, never once removing her gaze from Naruto's peaceful form.

"…You shouldn't worry, he's a strong child. I'm sure he'll be fine."

She balled her hands into fists. How could Itachi just say that? If she caused him any trauma or pain she would never forgive herself. He was just a child, and suffered so much already.

_Not like you won't hurt him in the future…_ A voice said in the back of her head.

She inwardly flinched at that truth. She heard Itachi move towards her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Yume…it's not your fault." He spoke softly and she clenched her fists more.

"Itachi…While I appreciate the effort to ease my worries, don't lie to me…" She spoke softly, and cut him off before he continued to speak. "If I had gotten him away from the scene and avoided confronting her, then Naruto wouldn't be in the hospital right now, or even have a need to be monitored for the next few days. This all could have been avoided…Damn it! What if I made him traumatized to the sight of blood Itachi! Or of someone else getting hurt! That could hinder or even cripple his chances of achieving his dream!...I…I don't want that to happen…becoming a shinobi and becoming Hokage is his dream…I don't want to be the reason…" Her voice quieted as she gazed sadly at Naruto.

It was quiet for a moment before Itachi sighed and forced her to turn around. "Wha-Ow!" She exclaimed as she touched her unprotected forehead, her headband being around her neck for the moment.

"Listen Yume. There isn't any reason for you to get upset over this. What's done is done…and even if he does develop a trauma there are ways for him to recover. He'll be taken care of, have more faith." He spoke sternly as he stared at her.

"…I…"She sighed and shook her head, she was too tired to even try to argue at the moment. Itachi seeing this let her go and moved back a little. Not once looking away as she mulled over his words. 'He does have a point…but…can I truly believe that the leaf will take care of Naruto as they should? I mean…they already treat him with so much content and hate but then…'Her gaze went towards the door of the room. 'Well…there are some shinobi that I've seen that don't gaze at him that way…well when he's not pulling a prank at least.' She sighed as she mumbled in resignation. She suppose she shouldn't doubt that they'd find someone to treat Naruto fairly if the situation arose.

She glanced back at Itachi who continued to stare at her, concern obvious on his face and worry as well. "…I suppose, that isn't the only thing you wish to speak about huh?' She questioned softly, her gaze shifted to the sleeping form of Fran and Sasuke. She had a hunch as to what he wanted to talk about and she would like to avoid the topic.

"Yes. But let's wait until Shisui arrives. I expect he would like to know as well." She sighed again at his response and crossed her arms. "It may be a while before he arrives, so I'd like to speak to speak about another matter in the meantime."

This caused her to blink in confusion. "When was the last time you slept?" She stared at him blankly for a moment before she started to internally become nervous. 'Shit. This is another thing I didn't want to deal with today but if I lie…' She clearly felt Itachi's displeasure and while yeah, she had spoken to him about lack of sleep before it was aimed at him and he had been trying to sleep a bit more than usual. While she on the other hand hadn't done so. 'He'll definitely try to give me a lecture about my lack of sleeping habits, or worse tell Mikoto-sama.' She shuddered a bit at the thought. Mikoto could be quiet scary when upset, or angry. Just thinkin about it made her get goosebumps, she'd surely get scolded and have a lot of scrutiny for the days to follow as she'd be forced to visit the Uchiha compound.

Something she didn't want to go though having it already happened once when she had visited and the bags under her eyes were very prominent, Itachi the slick kid he was, had headed straight to his room and rested for a bit, unnoticed mostly by his mother. 'Yeah no. Don't want that to happen again. However,…if Itachi starts to figure out I'm stressing about a lot of things and he figures things out…I will be in big trouble.'

"Well?" She was brought out of her thoughts, thankful that her mouth-filter was still intact and she hadn't started to speak everything that was on her mind, but she was probably reaching that point. She saw that Itachi had an expectant look on his face.

Hm, to lie or not to lie.

"…It was…two days ago…" She muttered not a total lie, okay, okay, it was a lie

"When you had full night's rest, not an hour nap." He stated matter of factly.

'Uh…shoot. Okay, well…the last time…I think was…two weeks ago?' Ouch. Okay that was just sad, she could not honestly recall when was the last time she had a full night's rest. 'I mean I did sleep mostly before then, just…wasn't as restful as it should.'

She heard Itachi sigh and without looking she could clearly feel his displeasure increase, it was practically palpable in the quiet room.

"Yume…Honestly." He shook his head. "Anyways…it's about time you made your presence known Shisui."

"Aww, you just had to ruin my fun Ita-chan! I kinda wanted to know just how much longer it would take for her to figure it out." Shisui stated as he entered through the window. Yume felt her eyes widen in realization. 'Wait, don't' tell me…'

"You were here the whole time weren't you Shisui." She stated at her other teammate's smiling face.

"You got that right. Honestly, the fact that you didn't sense me is really worrying, just how long have you exhausted yourself to the point that you can't even sense me at all. I mean granted I was suppressing my chakra a bit but still."

"I…ah…forget it." Was all she mumbled as she rubbed her forehead hoping to ease her increasing heading. It wasn't so much as sleep, but let's be honest, it was big factor to it. No, it was the fact that she had to deal with so many interrogations and then that meeting with the council didn't let her have a moment's break at all.

Thankfully they hadn't delve into her mind, but they certainly hadn't been easy on her one bit with repeating the same questions over and over for quiet a long while, and then summoned for a council meeting, and then her mind kept on going back to Naruto's well being.

So yeah, forgive her for being so exhausted to that point. It's a miracle she hadn't passed out from the shear exhaustion she had put herself to. However, she could just hear Lal and Reborn harp on her how that wasn't an excuse, one mistake and it could be over.

"Hm, got nothing to say huh?" Shisui smirked and Yume huffed and crossed her arms giving him a small 'whatever' in response.

"Heh, well your sleeping problem aside…How did the meeting go?" She gave him a raised eyebrow on that question.

"I thought you'd know."

"Hn. As if they'd ever let me be around given that I'm your teammate Yume-chan. I only saw that you were taken to the council after being moved from T&amp;I, that is the only extent of what I know, which to be honest had Ita-chan worried." He stated as he leaned against Itachi's shoulder, who in turn gave Shisui an annoyed look. "What? You know it's true, and you've been wanting to know what would happen to her too."

Itachi muttered and glared at Shisui for saying too much. "I see…and this is what you both wanted to discuss with me…about what is to become of me."

"Yeah…thankfully since you're out here and not locked away in a prison cell, that means you either got off scot free or you will be having a different punishment than being executed. The latter is more likely, so what's the damage?"

She muttered under her breath. "Nosey little brats." She then stared at the white ceiling in resignation, knowing neither would let it go until they had an answer. Then they'd probably just start nagging about her sleeping habits. Knowing them, they would not let that go that easily.

"Ah, the damage…right. So to kill two birds with one stone. Basically, I will not be taking on any missions for a while. Any official missions at least so don't expect to see me at all tomorrow. I'll be asleep or taking naps through out the day. Then for who knows how long after I will be running errands around the village but mostly around the academy with the chunin instructors without pay either." She muttered grimacing, not to mention she'd be under surveillance which leads to staying put in the village. Which puts any stall on her plans of leaving if she received any news.

"Well it could be worse I suppose, but there's more isn't there?" Shisui said from his spot on the windowsill. Itachi who had also moved, nodded from his spot next to Sasuke. Their observant gazes staring at her in wait.

She gave them an annoyed glared and made an irritated noise just to let them know her displeasure for them asking anymore questions. "Other than the fact I'm going to be watched no. Not really."

Shisui sighed. "Mah. Don't get upset, we're just worried. I mean it'd be saddening to know if you were…you know…" He didn't elaborate but she understood what he meant. If she had just attacked for no good reason she would have either been sentenced to die or stripped of her status as chunin and possibly a shinobi too. Something, neither of them would try to stop or fight against really. They loved and believed in the village too much, and that stung a bit.

But then who was she to judge it was the same to the way she felt about the current Vongola, if it ever came to that she'd follow any orders Tsuna would give. No matter what. "Yeah, don't worry. I get it." Shisui grinned in relief at her understanding as Itachi rolled his eyes as Shisui shunshined behind Yume and hugged her tightly. He smiled softly at their antics, especially since it soon woke up Sasuke and Fran. Who in turn voiced their annoyance about being woken up.

"Aw! C'mon Yume-nee! Let me do something. Please~ C'mon say yes!" Naruto begged her as he jumped up and down in front of her doorway. She frowned and shook her head.

"No Naruto, no pranks for now. You still need to rest, tomorrow you will be joining Fran with your new class and instructor."

"But Nee-chan~" He started to give her the puppy eyes, which she looked away to not give in. Inside she was relieved that he hadn't started freaking out at the sight of her the moment he had woken up. It also appeared that he didn't have any trouble when seeing any fights or blood, something determined after seeing a spar between two chunins.

Still, that didn't mean that everything was alright, and after that attempt to harm Naruto she didn't want Naruto to be left out of her sight for a few days. Although that was impossible due to the fact she was going to have to run errands all day today. "So remember, your going to have to behave while your with Mikoto-sama again today. Got it?"

Naruto huffed and pouted as he crossed his arms. "Okay…" She grinned and picked him up. "Don't worry this will all end soon and you'll be back to playing your pranks okay?"

"Yeah, yeah." She chuckled as Fran stood beside her. "You know Yume-nee you're parenting skills need a lot of work. I mean what guardian encourages pranking that are more akin to pranks than anything. I think you need to be stricter."

She sweatdropped at that and spluttered a bit. "Bu-but you don't do anything to stop it either." Fran gave her an apathetic stare.

"So? I'm not the one responsible for raising him. " Yume slumped forward and sighed at Fran's blunt words.

"Yeah. Yeah. " Naruto stared at Fran confused but then shrugged it off. "Ne, will Shisui-nee be there too?" He looked at her hopeful while Fran muttered a keh.

"Ah…he should. I think." She stated as he moved out of her grasp and grinned excitedly. She smiled lightly and shook her head. From what she last had heard of her two friends they would be staying in the village for a few days unless something came up. However, she hadn't really seen them at all since she was so busy going from one assignment to another. Honestly when she had been told that she would be assigned to errands without pay, she hadn't expected them to practically shove a ton of work on her but then again, it wouldn't be punishment if they didn't. At least though, she had a curfew of when her work hours ended, and started, rather than give her them during any time of the day.

At least this way she was able to make certain that both boys were fed and take into account how much money she had left since she wasn't earning anything for the time to come. They would last for about a month or three weeks depending if she didn't take Naruto out to eat ramen for a while. Humming she turned to look at Naruto's smiling face and shook her head. Well at least he was happy, it would appear even if she wasn't able to spend a lot of time with them, Naruto seemed ecstatic she was staying for a time.

_But there is still Lambo to think about._

That wiped the smile off her face. That is where a problem rose, Lambo would have been expecting her to appear soon, and since she couldn't send word that she'd be late in arriving she felt guilt, and worry start to creep into her mind. Then there was also the matter that she would have to delay her visit to Suna as well.

"Oi! Yume-nee we should go or we'll be late." Fran said after noticing her silence and Naruto started to frown at her lack of response to any of the questions he started to ask.

"Huh?" She blinked at Fran confused.

"I said we'll be late if we don't go already." Fran stated as he placed his hands into his coat pockets. "Honestly, what would they say if they were here, or better yet what would they do. Your so easily distracted these days it's not even funny" While Naruto again appeared confused, Yume paled. Fran didn't have to clarify to her who 'they' were and she shuddered.

"Uh…Right. So how bout we go."

"That's what I just said. Sheesh, you'd think I'd be talking to a parrot."

"Hey! That's mean Fran!"

"And? It's not like I care."

"Why you!" She quickly grabbed both children and exited her apartment as she jumped to the roofs, quelling any notion of argument from Naruto and Fran hanging limply on her other side. She'd just have to figure out how to set things back on track in order for the non-official schedule she had set herself to remain as it was.

"Has anything been found concerning the target?" An old gravelly voice asked as he stared at the masked figure in front of him.

"Unfortunately, no. There has been nothing out of what was already known. The records indicate that the target was first recorded into the system, after being found by a shinobi and taken to an orphanage, it is unknown as to why she was not taken to the hospital or even to T&amp;I to be questioned as a potential threat, as the shinobi in question is dead."

"I see…"

"Further records show that chances of her being a danger or threat to Konoha are questionable, written and actions have shown that she holds no ill will towards the village. Nor that she is a spy, for many things she is quite ignorant about. However, that is possibly compromised by the fact that the target is in search of any relatives. What could occur then with relations to Konoha is questionable."

"…Very well. For now that is enough, any further investigation would not be suitable for the moment, they have already been snooping around us as it is. Caution should be remain for the time being." The man said as the masked figure bowed respectfully.

"As you wish."

**M:Ok Not as long as I thought I'd make it, but for now that is it, since the next chapter I'm thinking of focusing more on Naruto and the little kids. Also the past few days I've been thinking more on how Yume's presence will affect the Naruto world and cannon events. That is after I've binged watched a bunch of episodes and still have not finished it but still. Anyways, that small tidbit aside, as I said since I was thinking of how Yume's presence affects events, I've also been thinking how she affects the people around her**

**I admit that in the beginning I hadn't thought that far ahead of how she would affect the Naruto world but yeah now I have. So the small cannon divergence I had first thought of is out the door since I think if she was actively trying to avoid changes then that is possible but since she doesn't well…**

**Anyways onto another fact, I've also been thinking about writing longer chapters than I used to but am still not sure on that part. And I also want to write a small omake concerning Lee, Gai(Is that the correct spellin?) and Ryohei. Like has anyone ever thought about what would happen if those three met?! Gah! I have not found any fanfic with that but I could be wrong since it's been a while since I checked the crossover with Naruto and KHR.**

**Anyways! For the final thing for now is that I'd like to thank you all for understanding and for sticking with me this year and to wish you a very late and early Merry Christmas and Happy new years, respectively of course!**

**Well see you in a couple of days!**

**P.S. the image on the cover is more or less how Yume appears but since my digital drawing skills are like rookie it's not that great but yeah. Anyways, bye again! ^-^/)**


	33. Notice

**Notice**

**M: So guys, I think this'll be my third time mentioning this, if you haven't read the other two notices, then this will be the first but I'm going to put this as discontinued? I don't think that's the right term since this is just getting revamped, and it'll be under a new title. The reasons for doing so are that a) I was basically getting lost on how to go about writing further chapters essentially(Which in hindsight I really should have written down a story outline to help me stay on track, lesson learned -.-) b) there were some things I wanted to redo or go into further but I had thought it was too late, but it's never too late really, c) If I kept on writing I would feel like I would be giving you something incomplete and strained and I didn't want to do that. **

**So thank you all for sticking with this original up to this point and I'm sorry that I couldn't continue this like I should have. I'll try and post the revamped chapters when I'm able. **

**Oh and I should state that a lot of the things are going to be mostly the same but there will be changes, so that's another reason why I decided just to revamp the whole thing. I wouldn't want to confuse you all either if I just continued and then some new plot point came along and yeah…**

**Well, again thank you and I am sorry for this!**


End file.
